


New notes over old memories

by 2Due



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Heavy playing the violin, M/M, Post-War, Romance, Sniper playing the saxophone, Spy playing the piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:09:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 44,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3463892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Due/pseuds/2Due
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spy has long retired from his occupation and now he's enjoying a simple new life, passing his time as private music teacher and his free time playing his adored piano, but one day things sharply changed as new neighbours arrived in his condominium and a saxophone started playing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected new neighbours

With a last drag, Lucien let out a last puff of smoke and set the exhausted cigarette in the ash tray. He was enjoying such a lovely moment, placidly sitting on his balcony of his small, but cosy flat. There was a quite a breeze that evening, announcing a summer storm at the horizon, yet it was warm and it had washed away all the clouds in the sky, making the sunset even more beautiful. In moments like that Lucien would have been nostalgic, thinking back at his days as a Blu spy just three years before, when he passed his time running up and down the battlefield with the enemy’s case, avoiding bullets and flames, messing around with the Red engineer, driving him crazy as his devices ruined to the ground buzzing and tilting then to avoid the Texan man’s wrench flying behind him; when he used to trip the enemy scout whenever he had the occasion and when he had to hunt the…sniper…down…

The Red sniper and him had been rivals since the first day, for a couple of years they have been teasing, killing each other and exchanging revenges almost every day, at first without any care, it was just part of their jobs, but soon they had started developing a deep respect for one another in their rivalry. Yet, that evening Lucien wasn’t thinking about the past, there was something new, a distraction keeping him in the present. A saxophone was playing right from the flat above his and a violin elegantly guided notes with it into a catchy melody.

There had been movement in the building that morning, he had seen few guys of a moving company taking few things upstairs and a truck standing in the courtyard as he walked out to go to work. Apparently some new musician arrived since their building was one of the rare ones in town where musicians could play and practice in peace without worrying to bother the neighbours too much, thanks to sound proof walls. The fact Lucien could hear their music suggested they had left their windows open, not that he minded much.

The music stopped after a while and he heard footstep above his head and the door-window getting closed, letting the silence fall in the air. Lucien sighed and walked inside.

It was a pity the music had stopped, it was a fascinating mix creating such a soothing melody to his ears. The more he thought about it, the more curious he got to meet the musicians. He suddenly got so excited he didn’t even sat at his dearest pianoforte that evening as he usually did, he rushed to the kitchen, collected the cupcakes he had bought walking home to his favourite patisserie and checked himself at the mirror on the wall, in the corridor. If he was going to give the new neighbours his welcome he had at least to be presentable. With everything ready, he took the box with the cupcakes and got out of the door, heading upstairs.

He found the flat without problems and immediately noticed the doorbell having a new double name tag. He read “William Anderssen” and “Nikolai Zolnerowich“. For a brief moment, he frowned. There was something tingling in the back of his head saying that those names weren’t unfamiliar, but he decided to ignore it shaking his head and rang the bell before smoothly moving his hand behind his back, standing upright and showing an excited smile.

He heard heavy footsteps from the other side of the door, a couple of locks being unlocked and finally a face appeared. Lucien had to tilt his head up to actually see the tall man standing in front of him in the face and when he recognised him, he felt his heart skip a beat, suddenly overwhelmed by an unwelcome sense of terror. It was a huge, wide shouldered, bald man who was looking down at him, with tiny eyes and square jaw, giving the impression of a bear glaring at a poor rabbit at his feet, and that’s how Lucien felt in that moment, a little bunny fearing for his life as who used to be the Red Heavy weapons guy set his eyes on him.

“Yes?” The giant gently asked, his Russian accent underlining his origins.

Lucien awkwardly cleared his throat holding a fist in front of his mouth and prayed for his voice to come out clear and unshaken. Of course the giant hadn’t recognised him, nobody could have. But before he could say anything, his eyes caught something moving behind that wall of a man and a muffled voice announced a “Coming!” in another weird, yet familiar thick accent, and in a moment another guy appeared at the door, unsuccessfully trying to push the big Russian for a little more room, with a saxophone hanging from his shoulder.

“G’evening.” He beamed happily at the new comer.

The _Red Sniper_.

It took Lucien a huge amount of will to not run away and even more to not shake more than he was starting to. He felt his breath go short, his heart racing and drumming in his chest and he swore he felt a drop of sweat running behind his right ear.

“Good evening, sirs, I’m Lucien Moreau,” he surprisingly calmly managed to say, “I’m your neighbour from the floor below and…” he offered the box with the cupcakes, “I wanted to welcome you. Such good musicians are always welcome here.” He offered them a bright smile, trying to hide his nervous state.

Surprised, Heavy took the box and cheerfully shook his hand with Lucien, heartily thanking him, and presented himself as “Big Nik”, then he moved aside letting the lanky man move forward and offer his thanks and handshake as well. Lucien gulped seeing him closer and with such a happy expression on his face, something he’s never seen during the war, and cursed himself for starting to lose his coolness.

Sniper grabbed his hand in a firm grip and shook it energetically. “Thanks so much, mate! You can call me Willy!” He released him and Lucien took a deep breath.

“Much pleased to meet you.” He coughed out, feeling his hand slightly sore after a crunching grip and an energetic second one.

Suddenly both the new comers looked embarrassed for a second and William, scratching the back of his head, spoke first. “We’d invite you in for a coffee, but….as you can see, we haven’t unpacked yet.” He chuckled the last words.

“We got a bit lost with music.” Big Nik added.

“Oh, it’s quite all right, quite all right. I leave you to your settling down, then. It’s been a pleasure and I hope you enjoy the cupcakes. If you need anything you can find me right under your flat.”

“Thanks so much, mate. See ya.” He waved after Lucien offered a short bow and turned on his heels.

The big man closed the door and went to set the box on the table. “Quite a nice man. A bit funny looking though.”

“He surely had a curious accent.” Willy added right before ferociously biting a first cupcake. “Such a nice guy indeed." He happily muffled out, trying to ignore a weird sensation the man left in him.

Lucien trotted off and as soon as he was out of sight disappearing under the stairs, he rushed to his door and rapidly closed it behind himself. He flattened against it being sure to lock it too. He was panting and even slightly shaking, cold sweat running down his back. His legs became jelly and he had to slide down and sit on the floor. Once he calmed himself, he couldn’t stop shaking his head and maniacally smiling, a corner twitching.

“ _Fils de pute_.”


	2. Silent tension

Lucien stopped and finally sat on his bed starting to fear walking a path into his floor. He had been walking around in his bedroom for quite a while, pondering, and he had lost counts of the rounds he made around the bed. His head fell in his hands and gently massaged his temples. His head was going to explode, he felt it pounding and the headache didn’t give him the feeling to leave soon, not even after an aspirin.

_“You can call me Willy!”_

He breathed deeply and joined his hands in front of his chin, leaning it on his thumbs. After all those years, of all coincidences, the Red Sniper – EX-Red Sniper now - had to come live right above his head, followed by the ex-Red Heavy.

He let himself fall on the bed and pulled himself up with his bare feet until his head touched the pillow. He sprawled, his eyes staring at the ceiling unable to close and let him rest. He groaned and his hand heavily landed on his forehead, _his_ voice was still ringing persistently in his head, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Nor his cheerful tone…nor his smile…

He furiously grabbed the first thing his other hand could get a hold on from the night stand and, with the same might, he threw it toward the ceiling just to have it quickly landing back right on his head. It _had_ to be the remote…

-

The next morning Lucien was carefully checking for the 4th time in the mirror if there was a bump or any visible sign on top of his head and again he moved away glad to see nothing, but the pain of the hit surely was there to remind him of where he got struck.

He was ready to go, head up and straight, fully elegantly dressed as usual and ready for the day. That day he had three students to help out and the first one was going to appear in his office in 30 minutes. He grabbed his shoulder bag, quickly checked if he had all the files he would have needed, and headed to the door grabbing coat, hat and keys in a smooth automatic catch. He locked the door after himself and… he didn’t take his first step to the stairs to head down, he turned to reach the bottom of the other stairs and peeked, almost hoping to see William getting out at the same time. He sharply moved away, shaking his head and hating himself for doing such a foolish thing, he cursed himself and stomped downstairs heading to the tram stop.

He had almost reached his stop after a short trip when he noticed someone walking on the sidewalk on the other side of the road. It was Big Nik, peacefully whistling to himself as he trotted, elegantly dressed, holding a little case at his side –Lucien couldn’t tell if it was indeed a small case or it was just the man’s size to make it look so-, wearing a nice hat and small round glasses. The tram rang as it reached the next stop catching his attention; he immediately spotted Lucien and waved happily at him. Lucien reciprocated with a same enthusiasm, slightly taken aback from the gesture. Nikolai’s smile seemed quite contagious. The tram moved again and Lucien got ready to get off on the next stop, he took a last glance at the big guy and….was that a dove on his shoulder?

-

As his usual, William was already up at dawn time. It’s always been the first one to get up and he was simply enjoying his time watching outside the open door-window until breakfast, around 8.30am, sitting at the table. It was pretty quiet outside, if not for rare cars driving by, birds chirping and the tram stopping by. Big Nik had left around 7.30am and he had written him a note while Willy was having a shower, and now that note laid on the table next to the ex-shooter.

_I’ll be back at 4.30pm, you try to distract yourself a bit unpacking and not ending into troubles. The other keys of the flat are in your jacket’s pocket, don’t lose them. If you need anything, you know at what number call me and where to find me._

_Nik_

_PS: Buy peanut butter, please_

 

Willy had read it, chuckled and placed it back on the table. _Good old Nik._

He had seen him down in the street as he leaned on the balcony, trotting off whistling, but he was already too far to hear him. Eh, never once he took a public transportation, always on foot. He surely didn’t have problems around this town, he knew it even too well and knew exactly how long it would have taken him to go to work from their new flat. It wasn’t actually a “new” flat, Nik owned it since the year before, but never used it until then. It was really a nice place too, it had a nice living room, a cosy kitchen, two separated bedrooms and a big bathroom.

Willy closed his eyes for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts, his hand scratching behind his head feeling his hair still slightly damp. He needed a distraction, a good one. He sighed and got up to get his coffee ready when his eyes landed on the last cupcake left in the box Lucien had given them. Willy weakly chuckled and took it, giving it a nice bite and he brew the coffee. That man has been really nice to welcome them and, frankly, Willy wasn’t expecting anything from anyone, so it was such a nice surprise. He sat down enjoying his breakfast in silence, lost in his thoughts. If he was living in that block, he probably was a musician too. Almost all people in there were musicians, there they could all play in peace without bothering one another. He had noticed long slender fingers when they shook hands, maybe he was a pianist? A flutist? He could be anything from what Willy knew, which was nothing actually. He had a weird accent, though, and he really couldn’t say from where he could have come from, surely not from Russia nor Australia. Yet… it tingled in his mind as if he heard it somewhere already.

He suddenly gasped as he felt the cup had gone empty, it reminded him he owed him a coffee. It was the least he could do after all. He jumped up, quickly washed the cup and thought for a minute. He didn’t know if Lucien had a job –probably did and surely he had already walked out. He tapped a finger to his brow thinking what to do and his eyes laid on the note from Nik again. Uhm, yes, he could have left him a letter. A bit old fashioned, but effective. He walked to a little box on the counter of the kitchen where Nik liked to stack up papers of any kind, from letters to blank pieces to write on, and a pen. He took the box and poured everything on the table as much disgrace to Nikolai’s neat packing… He’d place everything back in again later and the big guy won’t like it not even a bit. William didn’t care much at the moment and searched for a simple blank paper, scattering everything everywhere. A spotless letter from Engie, a gun-powder smelling letter from Demo, one from Pyro, slightly burned on one side… oh, Giacomo’s last letter from last month. He picked it up for a moment remembering the words of comfort and good wishing from the Spy, that snake had managed to reunite with his family after the war, the photo attached to the letter showed he was still with his wife and their two children, a pretty, blond girl and a younger scruffy boy sitting on the father’s shoulders and pulling his ears, and he had kept constant contacts with him. Willy smiled at the lucky friend’s image in the picture before going searching again for what he needed. He wondered if his reply had reached the ex-Spy.

He wiggled his brows as he came out with a still closed letter from Medic. Nik would possibly kill him if he’d find it open at his return, so he placed it back in the pile, half-already-knowing the topic of the letter.

“Ah, there it is.” He said as a white paper finally appeared. He quickly wrote down few words, bent it in half twice and headed to the jacket. He quickly made a mind check of what Nik and him needed at home, got quickly dressed, checked for his money… ugh, he had to stop checking on that one… he had so much money in his bank account he could not work for the rest of his life… He ended hating that situation.

He groaned and got out, locked the door and walked downstairs. He passed by Lucien’s door, but he didn’t bother knocking. He pushed the paper under the door and walked on, heading for the supermarket. For a second he thought of Giacomo’s accent… nah, Lucien’s wasn’t Italian. Wait… what was Nik had asked to buy again?


	3. Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for being late! Workshops and internet issues froze me D: But here the new chapter and I hope you all enjoy it! Next one should be up this weekend.  
> I also wanted to thank you all for the kind words and the feedback, I wasn't truly expecting it to be liked this much and I'm quite touched ;w;  
> A big hug and now I go to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep....*snores*

“He surely made great progresses in the last month, Miss Moore. I do hope there’s no need to remind you to advice his mother about it.” Lucien forced a chuckle as he collected the scores to give to his student, the little Malcolm.

“OH! You don’t need to worry, Mr. Moreau! My sister will know it in no time.” The frilly lady Moore giggled, letting her annoying thrilling voice echoing in the room. Lucien held himself from rolling his eyes, it already happened twice that Malcolm’s mother had called him asking about her son’s doing, once even during a lesson. He hated repeating himself, he hated being interrupted and he highly hated the lady in front of him.

The kid had done packing and was ready to go home, but his aunt had other plans. He shared a look with his teacher, sighed and went to sit down, bored already. Lucien wanted so much to scream at him to take her away, but couldn’t be that rude with a client.

“And,” She pursed her lips out, Lucien stealthily took a step back, “I think there’s no need to remind you, Mr. Moreau, you can freely call me Cindy.” She purred and took a step closer, teasingly puffing up her fur coat with a shrug.

“My sweet lady, I would never dare to be so disrespectful.” He bowed placing a hand on his heart, just to not let her see how disgusted he actually was. He could hear the young boy holding a laugh, he knew his teacher didn’t like her. Not even him liked her actually.

Miss Moore puffed annoyed and lifted him back up with a finger under his chin. “Oh Mr. Moreau you’re such a gentleman!” She released him. “What if, then, I invite you for a coffee? I know an exquisite place nearby with _such_ a lovely atmosphere!” She pouted, pleading.

Lucien gulped hard and shook his head. “I’m so very sorry, my lady, but I’m afraid I have to decline.”

The lady didn’t take it quite well, seeing her furrowing brows, but remained apparently calm. “Mr. Moreau, I must say it’s not very polite to decline a lady’s invite for the third time, but” she surprisingly smiled at him, “I guess you’re a busy man with a very interesting lifestyle. I still can’t believe you are not married yet, my dear!”

_Take a guess, you witch._ He thought. He could _hardly_ imagine why she wasn’t herself.

“Let’s say it this way, dear Mr. Moreau, next week I’ll come to visit you again and you won’t decline my invite.” She offered him her hand to kiss.

Lucien elegantly took it and placed a _very_ light kiss on the back of it. “I can’t make promises, my lady, but I can try to please you accepting your coffee invite.”

“Oh, I do hope, Mr. Moreau.” She winked at him and turned to her nephew. “Come on, Malcolm, sweetie, we don’t have all evening, scoot, scoot.”

The kid politely saluted his teacher and followed his aunt out.

Lucien finally broke from his rigid composed posture and calmly walked to the bathroom, highly hoping there was bleach he could wash his lips with.

-

It was late evening when he finally arrived to his door, he was tired and hungry, and also had a nice headache to deal with. He rubbed his eyes with two fingers as he unlocked the door. He dragged himself in and closed the door behind, his bag heavily fell to the ground slipping off his shoulder and his hat was placed on the table. As much he loved his students, to see them improve and enjoy his same passion, he really couldn’t stand their relatives… He groaned disgusted as the over-dressed-up skinny lady appeared in his mind again, flashing him with her fake eyelashes, smelly fur coat and lumpy chipped lips, and with that centimetre of make up all over her face, which reminded him of a clown going through depression… Ugh, one of those days he’ll snap at her, kicking her out of the office. If that the case, he’d take Malcolm home himself.

A sharp noise interrupted his flow of thoughts. He had stepped on something on the ground, a piece of paper actually, folded in half. He frowned and bent down to pick it up.

 

_Would you still accept that coffee? Come anytime._

_William_

 

Now, that was an invite he surely would never decline. He could go after dinner.

-

With one last brush in front of the mirror, Lucien was ready to go. His clothes were neat, not too elegant, but cosy and still fashionable. He took great care to hide the old scars on his arms and neck and with the same care he checked again the little bump under his hair. It was a little thing, but its presence bothered him a lot. As he moved his hand down, he caught himself staring at his own reflection. He let out a soft sigh, he surely wasn’t the blond cocky boy he was about twenty years before nor the handsome masked rogue he’s been for five long years anymore… He was hitting 42 that year and despite all, he still felt pretty young and energetic, and he was still quite handsome.

Lonely though… He had someone years before, but that story didn’t end well, so he left it in the past without much grudge.

With a quick turn on his heels, he was heading to the door.

He got to his neighbour’s door in no time and he nervously rang the bell. He could hear a well muffled sax playing and then being sharply interrupted. In few seconds the door opened and the ex-shooter’s face beamed in front of him. He actually seemed surprised to see Lucien, but at the same time happy.

With a smooth wrist turn, Lucien showed him the note. “Yes, I would.”

Willy snorted and let him in.

_His laugh never changed._ Lucien noted as he moved forward. He found himself in a very nice place, with everything in order and a nice session of warm colours, with objects belonging to the two men’s birthplaces. A weird mix, but pleasant to see. “You have a really nice place.” He commented, honest.

Willy set the sax down in its box and allowed his guest to have a seat. He chuckled. “It’s Nik’s fault, he’s the tidy guy. He doesn’t let me have my stuff my way.” He offered him a bowl of cookies while he went to prepare the coffee.

“Why, thank you.” He looked around quickly. “Isn’t he home?” A thought creeped in the back of his mind, could they be…?

“Nah, he isn’t. The big guy’s visiting a…friend. He’ll probably be back tomorrow.” He brew them a couple of cups and set the bowl with sugar cubes on the table, too.

_A…friend, you say?_ Quite interesting, but it was too soon to ask about. Lucien gladly took the cup and let a cube melt into it.

“You want any milk?” Willy asked, but Lucien lifted his hand letting him know it wasn’t necessary.

“So, how you finding this new settlement?” Lucien asked.

“It’s surely a pretty gem, this place, it’s the first time I see something like this, it’s musicians’ heaven. And not only the building, but also all the instruments shops nearby. I still have to check them though, I just noticed them going for groceries.”

“Ah, yes, this area has all you need if you’re into music, and the prices aren’t even that high. Quite affordable for such a good quality.” Infact, that was the reason Lucien had chosen that area in the first place.

“Do you play anything, mate? You must play something.” He asked, all excited.

Lucien nodded. “Pianoforte and sometimes clarinet. I’m a private teacher for both, for any age students.”

William leaned back against his chair, grinning amazed. “Really? That’s awesome, mate!”

Lucien nodded thankful and couldn’t stop his tongue. “And what do you do if may I ask?”

“Ah, well…” A hint of sadness filled his eyes, immediately catching Lucien’s curiosity. “Actually, not doing anything at the moment,” he started scratching the back of his head, something Lucien had learnt he did when Sniper was nervous, “having a pretty rough period lately, so Big Nik is helping me out.”

“Oh… I see.” Lucien didn’t push it forward, it was too soon and he didn’t want him to be too much stressed, but he offered a sincere smile, which seemed to enlighten William a bit.

Apparently, he had understood Lucien didn’t want to press on it for politeness and he nodded at him, grateful. Maybe one day, he’ll tell him what he’s going through.

“And so I’m staying here until waters calm down, then I’ll search for a house myself.”

“So, this is Big Nik’s house, I guess?”

Willy nodded. “He has a few flats around the city.” - _No wonder._ Lucien thought- “His first home is on the other side of it and he keeps coming and going to see how I’m doing and to see if our other friend needs something, but” he casually waved, “it’s a long story, don’t wanna bore you with it.”

Lucien chuckled and finished his coffee. “Maybe another time. You planning to be a professional musician? Maybe joining a band or something? I heard you and your friend yesterday evening and it was such a lovely tuned-up melody.”

Willy wobbled his head nodding, thinking about it. “Could try, but I need to search for contacts. And, ah, thanks, glad you liked.”

Lucien smiled. “I could help somehow, I know many bands and orchestras working in the region, I could give you all the contacts I have.”

The other man blinked at him, surprised. “Would you?”

“Why not? From what I heard you and your friends were very good.”

“Woah, ah….thanks, Lucien.” He slightly blushed, embarrassed and overwhelmed by such kindness.

Lucien froze hearing him saying his name for the first time, but quickly recovered not wanting to look too awkward. “Anytime, really.”

A clock started singing the late hours and Lucien took the chance. “Would you like me to show you the area tomorrow? I know all the best shops.” He grinned.

“O-Oh, well, I’d really like it, but please, you don’t have to go through any trouble.”

“No trouble at all, I have the afternoon free tomorrow, if you can come at 2pm, knock at my door and I’ll take you anywhere you like.” He stood up, followed by William.

“That’s really kind of you, really! Thanks, mate, I’ll be downstairs at 2pm for sure.” He offered his hand to the _new_ friend, which Lucien found really hard to not take in his and give it a kiss, he managed to simply give it a nice handshake though.

“At 2pm, then. And thank you for the coffee, Willy.”

William smiled at him and opened the door for him. “G’night, then, and thanks again.”

“Goodnight.” He whispered back and let him close the door after him.

Although the massive wooden door hid it from one another, each man was simply grinning excited at the thought of a new beginning.


	4. Watch your head!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again everyone :)   
> I'll never be able to thank you all enough for your kindness, I never had so much positive feedback on a fan work and I'm super happy about it .w. Thank you thank you thank you!
> 
> For the ones who'd like to see any news about my fanfictions, you can find me on [Tumblr](http://2due-the-anteka.tumblr.com/)  
> or for checking my personal art and (soon-to-come) fanart about my fanfictions out, you can find me on [Deviantart](http://2due.deviantart.com/)  
> :3
> 
> Wish you all a nice day and see you soon for the next chapter and fanart!  
> Hugs,  
> 2Due

The door bell’s ringing made him jump, making him almost break the few dishes he was washing. Lucien frowned and looked at the clock on the wall at his right and blinked surprised to see it was already 2pm. 2 o’clock pm, precisely. He quickly washed his hands and grabbed a rag to dry them up, then rushed to the door, still holding the rag.

“G’afternoon, mate.” Willy saluted with a beaming smile.

Lucien stood there in awe, frozen seeing those green eyes peeping out from his crooked sunglasses…but just for a moment before he remembered he was still on Earth. “Oh, good afternoon, Willy.”

“Ready to go?”

Uhm, not quite. Please, do come in in the meanwhile, I just need few minutes.” Lucien offered and Willy shyly took a step in. “Make yourself at home,” He said closing the door. “I’ll be back in a moment. Would you like something?”

William had chosen a chair at the table in the living room where he could see the other man working in the kitchen, and clumsily sat down, trying to feel comfortable in the new place. “N-No, thanks, I’m good. But don’t you fret, we’re not in any hurry.”

Lucien chuckled and set all the dishes to their place. He felt unbelievably comfortable giving his guest his back and it made him think back at the old days… was he becoming too soft or just too used to have the Sniper around…? He had to be careful for both “soft” and “used to”.

Willy looked around finding himself very interested about how the man lived. The flat was just as Nik’s, big living room, kitchen in the right corner with a balcony outside, bedroom, bathroom and an extra room on the left from the door, after the narrow antechamber.

The living room had white walls with a pastel blue ceiling, black unusual furniture –most antiquate- and an old, well maintained black piano stood close to the antechamber’s wall, with a marvellous view from a wide window. There were no photos or prints on the walls, but small black metal decorations forming elegant shapes of tulips and roses. The floor was a mosaic of large square light-coloured glazed tiles.

“You really have an interesting taste in decorating, I like it.” Willy happily commented as he stood up not resisting seeing the piano closer.

“Thank you. Now, excuse me for a last thing, I’ll be right back.” And he disappeared into his room. He sighed as he was out of sight, digging in his wardrobe for a nice shirt, he was really being too confidential.

Willy seemed a bit surprised by Lucien’s trust, but he didn’t complain and didn’t want to disappoint. He walked around looking closely to the golden details and the ivory keys and whistled seeing how exquisite it looked. There was something, though, that bothered him. It wasn’t coming from the piano, but from around, from the walls. He looked trying to understand what was causing such disturbance, but didn’t see anything, not until a white furry tail gave out and moved against the blackness of a piece of furniture, making it clear there was an animal in the flat, big blue eyes suddenly opening from the whiteness of the wall signing the presence of a cat. A big, short furred white siamese cat.

“Fantôme…” Lucien appeared and the cat immediately started purring at him. “Don’t scare our new friend.” He gave the cat a single pat on the head and Fantôme grunted not pleased to have received just one. Lucien looked back at Willy. “I hope she doesn’t bother you.”

“Not at all, mate.” He moved closer to the cat, letting her sniff his hand. She gave him a quick lick and heavily cuddled against him, purring loudly. “What’s the name again? Phantom?” He winced when she gave his finger a gently bite.

“Technically yes,” he gave her a gentle pat to make her stop munching him and she protested with a loud meow, as if she got stabbed in the back. “She’s Fantôme. She’s been with me for about five years. I found her and her siblings in a box abandoned outside. Got them visited, fed and settled. Her siblings got adopted by people I know, so I’m very sure they got well pampered.”

Willy smiled and allowed himself to have a little fun petting her, and Fantôme pretty appreciated it. “Looks she got pampered as well. Am I right, girl?” She purred louder in response. “It’s so good to see there are people like you around, taking good care of these little critters.”

Lucien blushed a bit at that. “I could not leave those kittens behind. After all, they were also too cute to resist.” He laughed as Fantôme jumped on his shoulders and simply flopped there, all her paws falling around. He sighed and scratched her chin. “You seem to have had some pets around.”

“Oh yeah, I got many in my life, of any kind.” Willy said, but he sharply stopped and Lucien could see that sad hint in his eyes once again.

“Look at this.” He quickly said, wanting to distract him. “Who does want a snack?”

Fantôme was on the ground in no time and rushing to the kitchen, meowing.

The men both shook their heads. “Cats.”

-

Once given Fantôme her treat and Lucien grabbed his round sunglasses, white shirt and black vest, they finally moved outside.

Lucien guided him down the street until they ended up in an area full of coffee shops and music shops of any kind. Some were just for guitars, others for brass instruments, others for drums, others again for just electronic parts and long play records. For a second Lucien lost sight of Willy, just to see him standing in the middle of the crowded sidewalk, perfectly visible since his lankiness, looking around with his sunglasses on top of his head, amazed by the number of shops and cultures.

“Not even five minutes and you want to get lost?” Lucien chuckled tapping his shoulder and the man got back to reality.

Willy looked down at his feet, away from Lucien’s eyes, blushing and scratching his neck. “Eh. Sorry, mate. Wasn’t expecting such a show.”

“Come on,” he smiled, “I want you meet someone.”

Lucien dragged him toward a nice small shop and as they set foot in it, a deep feminine voice welcomed them with a lot of enthusiasm.

“LUCIEN! SWEETCHEEKS! No! Don’t talk, just get your skinny butt over here and give Mama Ryn a big kiss.”

Lucien took a deep breath holding a giggle and excused himself. Even before Willy could fully understand what was going on, he saw Lucien walking toward the counter where a pretty curvaceous, funny looking, middle age black lady was waiting for him to plant a kiss on her cheek. The blondie delicately kissed it and soon her arms were crunching him around his waist. It looked like Lucien weighted nothing, she had lifted him as if he was a feather despite his not-so-weak appearance. He gasped as he got released.

“Hi, Mama Ryn.” He coughed.

“UUUUUUUUUUUhhhhhhh,” her eyes fell on the shy lanky man who was slowly getting closer. “Who’s your friend, sweetie?” She sassily asked.

“William, ma’am. Pleased to meet you.” He smiled, hoping to not end in her crunching grip.

“I’m Caryn, darling, Mama Ryn for friends.” She gave him a wink and politely welcomed him to her humble shop with a small bow.

Lucien tapped on her shoulder and got closer to her ear. “He’s new of the area, he might need _the tour_.”

“Oh, you say! Leave him to me, sweetie. You know where I keep my cookies.”

“All yours.” He grinned and Willy gulped.

Mama Ryn pinched Lucien’s cheek hard, leaving a big red mark, and then she ran to grab the lanky man’s arm, joyful to show him all her merchandise. Panic was all over Willy’s face as he tried to call after Lucien, but the other man simply waved at him with an “Ok” sign.

She asked him a lot of fast questions about what he played, what he was searching for and what music he liked, and soon she took him to a little section with many things sax-themed. He soon forgot about the world.

Lucien got himself lost in the back where Mama Ryn’s famous cookies were waiting for him. The back was a cosy room, with a kitchen and a door to the garden. There he found Mama Ryn’s oldest daughter, Janel, and their cat, Simon, one of Fantôme’s brothers. Janel tackled him as he entered, happy to see him in such a long time and the cat cuddled against his leg, just to flop at his feet wrapping his paws around his ankle. They all sat at the table, talking about her last year at the university.

Willy had made quite a list of things to buy, tools he needed for his saxophone and vinyl records for both himself and Big Nik, and once he had collected all the pieces, he helped Mama Ryn to move them at the counter.

“You’ve known Lucien for a long time?” He innocently asked her.

“Hm-hmm, darling, since I opened the shop in this town six years ago. He simply walked in one day and there was this immediate feeling. Too bad I’m married.” She joked and laughed.

Willy laughed too. “I’ve met him just two days ago, but I like his way, he seems a very nice guy.”

She started packing his stuff in a couple of big bags. “Oh, he is, but he drives me crazy sometimes! After he found a bunch of kittens years ago, I ended up having another child.” A cat appeared at her ankles, meowing. “Speaking of the devil.” She bent down to pick him up and placed him on the counter. “I guess you met his sister at Lucien’s house, right?”

Willy chuckled and petted him good. “Yes, ma’am.” The Siamese purred and suddenly jumped down.

“There he goes searching for new troubles.” She chuckled seeing the cat climbing on some of the shelves on the wall.

Lucien appeared behind her. “The little devil stole and ate my cookie before rushing off.”

Gasping, Mama Ryn glared at the cat. “Bad Simon! Shame on you!” His only answer was him closing his eyes, satisfied.

“Nevermind,” Lucien chuckled, “I’ll be in my usual section.” And he trotted off.

She sighed and got back to arrange William’s purchases. “He also worries me, too. He might look happy and carefree, I know he loves his job and he gets himself lost in his music, but… he seems so lonely.” She gave him the bags and he proceeded to pay her, careful to her words. “The rascal is also so secretive!” She grunted, “He never tells Mama Ryn what he feels, worrying me even more!” She puffed her cheeks out, annoyed, stealing a chuckle from Willy. “If I were you, young man, I’d keep an eye on him-“

A loud noise interrupted her, followed by a shrieking meow, a groan and a thud. The cat flashed at her feet, running like hell in the back searching for safety and Lucien was nowhere to be seen. Mama Ryn and Willy ran to where he was and they found him sitting on the ground, a hand on his head.

“Sweety, are you alright?!” They kneeled next to him and held him up. The old shelf had given up under the cat’s weight and it had landed right on his head. He groaned louder and he noticed, removing his hand, he was losing some blood. She gasped and dashed to get some medication, leaving Willy to help him stay put.

“Nice cut you got there. Here.” He took out a clean handkerchief and gently pressed it on the cut. Lucien hissed, but managed to mumble a “thank you” out. His head was spinning and he felt really unsteady, so much he had to lean against William.

Mama Ryn got back with the first aid kit and checked him thoroughly. “It’s just a little cut, sweetie. I’m so sorry though, it shouldn’t have happened.”

Lucien felt a bit better after her attention and waved her apologies off. “Don’t you worry, Mama, at least it didn’t happen on a costumer.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and helped him up. He was a bit unstable, but William was ready to catch him. “You’re lucky you got a very hard head.” That made him laugh, but he stopped wincing. William pressed his handkerchief on his head again, turning it to a clean side and let him hold it.

“I think I should get him home. May I come tomorrow to get the pieces?”

“Sure, darling, anytime. I’ll keep the bags in the back.” She looked at Lucien. “Do you feel to walk home? Want Janel to drive you?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, Mama.” The bleeding stopped and he analysed the handkerchief. “Sorry, Willy…I’ll give it back clean.”

“No worries, mate, come on let’s go. Bye Mama Ryn, see you tomorrow.”

She led them to the door, looking worried. “Take care, boys. Call me when you feel better, Lucien!”

-

Lucien looked at his reflection and grimaced as he noticed it got the cut right over the already present bump. It had started bleeding again and he soon had to sit down with the handkerchief on it.

“Let me see.”

“Willy, there’s no need for such a fuss.”

“Let me see.” He said, more insistent. Lucien allowed him, a bit annoyed. Having him that close unnerved him as much as it worried him for his own self-control.

Willy started patting gently over the wound with a wet tissue, trying to clean that blonde hair from the blood. “Hard head.” He chuckled, feeling slightly guilty.

“Oh, shut up.” Lucien laughed with him. He had to admit to himself he was liking feeling Willy’s hands on him, the one holding him still on the cheek was driving him crazy and he was trying with all himself to not lean in it, so he opted for a new topic. “What did you find at Mama’s?”

“Some disc Nik wanted, some new pieces for cleaning my sax, a new folder… My sax is pretty old and needed some new part.” He shrugged and took a step back. “You’re clean now, just don’t poke it or it’ll open up again.”

Lucien nodded. “Thank you, Willy.”

The lanky man sat in front of him smiling. “Would you like to come over for dinner? Big Nik should arrive in about an hour and we could have all a nice time.”

Lucien thought about it for a second and smirked. “Admit it, you’re just trying to gently say I’m not able to cook for myself this evening.” He teased and Willy barked in a loud laugh, unmasked. He admitted he did, but just a bit.

Lucien laughed as well, but the pain on the head made him stop. “I should get some ice on it.”

“Tell me where I can find what you need and I’ll help.”

“Fine…” Lucien guided him staying down and soon the bag of ice was ready. With all the gentleness he could manage, Willy placed it atop of him. Lucien shivered, but was glad to have it. He leaned back on the chair and crossed his legs.

“So…would you come?”

“Time?” He grinned.

“8pm?”

Lucien nodded and Willy shone with happiness.

“I should get going then, I still have a ton of stuff to fix or Big Nik will kill me. See you later, mate, call me if you need anything.” He trotted to the door and got quickly out, seeing Lucien waving at him with a hand.

With a painful groan, Lucien closed his eyes and his hand went to grab the ice bag. _Oh no, you don’t._ And he quickly moved it to his groin, hoping William hadn’t noticed his sudden boner.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some references for Fantôme's appearence [HERE](http://animalonline.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/siamese-cats-hd-black-siamese-cat-with-blue-eyesshukernature-tales-of-a-tail-awesome.jpg) and [HERE](http://www.siamesecatpictures.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/lilace-point-siamese1.jpg)  
> 


	5. Painful secret memories

Willy soon heard the door opening and heavy footsteps making their presence in the hall, but he didn’t get up.  He heard Big Nik calling for him and his only answer was a grunt, slightly muffled in his pillow. Nik moved following the call and knocked at the door  left ajar  of Sniper’s room, his face  painted with worry. 

“Ehy, Little man.”  He affectionately said, and Willy sincerely smiled at that, “Brought you  something from Theo.” The giant moved in and sat at the end of the bed, leaving the bag he was holding next to William. 

Willy took a deep breath as to calm  himself  and landed his hand on his head, scratched and finally turned around to face his friend, but his eyes didn’t dare to lock with his. “Oh… how is he?”

Big Nik felt a tight grip around his heart seeing how his friend looked, his eyes looked awfully dark, red and slightly swollen, and his face was pretty pale.  “He is doing fine, just still very busy, you know… but he said he’ll visit this Sunday, he really wants to see you.” He offered a sad smile .

Willy sat up and went to dig into the bag, chuckling. “Would be nice to see Doc,  ya . Ah! Look at this.”  He was holding a jar of homemade marmalade in a hand and a letter in the other. “ We know this will cheer you up . Love,  Ilsa  and Theo ” He read and snorted. “How kind of the siblings, really appreciated.” 

Glad to see his friend smile, Big Nik chuckled and gave him a nice pat on the back. “She made it extra thick, just like you like.”

“ Ow …” Willy joked. He checked the clock on his night stand. “You’re freaking late, mate.” He grinned at him knowing already why he had got home in the evening. In fact, Big Nik’s face immediately got the colour of a tomato and he stood up quickly, heading to the door.

“I’m going to prepare dinner.” He walked out of the room.

Willy snickered at his smooth try to escape. “No need, mate. It’s already  in the over!” He heard him opening  it and closing it back. “ Did he need ice this time?” And all he heard was a fast stomping to the bathroom. 

It might have been an old joke between  them , but it still could steal a  good laugh from Willy, also because he perfectly knew Theodore was unbreakable despite Nik’s size.  He set the jar and the letter aside and let his long legs fall down the bed. His lungs fell still very heavy and his throat  tight,  and his head… man, he had a pounding headache… but he was glad Nik had come home at th e right moment, he would have lost himself in his agony once again and would have ended up in a worse mess.  He tried to focus on the present and that he was going to have a guest in less than 45 minutes, he needed to fix himself as best as he could do. He got up and walked to the wardrobe, where he kept a long mirror on the inside of the door, and gave himself a nice check. He really looked awful…he couldn’t face Lucien in such a miserable state! 

“Can I come in?” He asked Big Nik, knocking at the bathroom door. The Russian man let him in since he was just putting the few objects he had taken with him back in their cabinet. Willy went to refresh and wash his face, hoping to hide all the signs of his previous moments alone and Nik let him do ,  avoiding any comment. Once done, he took the towel to dry up and muffled something to the other man.

“What?”

“I said  we’re having someone at dinner.” His hand was furiously trying to dry up his hair, messing it up even more in a fluffy knot of brown locks. 

Nik’s jaw dropped , s urprise d . He wasn’t surely expecting that  nor  anything close to it. “You  joking?”  A smile grew on his face.

Willy looked at his hairy mess in the mirror, snorted and placed the towel back. He didn’t bother to use the  comb,  his fingers were enough for a quick brush.  “ Ain’t  joking!  I invited Lucien over and he accepted.”

A fat grin appeared on Nik’s smug. “You spent some time with him?”

“Yeah.  Coffee and he showed me the main street of music around the corner, but then he had a little accident  today , got hit straight on his head and had to accompany him back home.”

Nik blinked, frowning. “Is he alright?”

“He got a nice cut on top of his head, but he said it was no  biggy . I helped as much as I could, invited him over and got back to clean the place. He’ll be here in about 30 minutes.” Satisfied with his hair, he turned around to face him. “You know, he seems to be a really nice guy.”

Big Nik laughed heartily.  “ Ohohoh !  I’m so happy to hear you got a new friend,  Little  man!” In fact, Nik was  blissful to know Willy got active  instead of  staying alone, he feared so much that he would have locked himself in the apartment,  closing  himself to  the world. He needed to see how Lucien was with his own eyes first,  then  he might have a chat with him. With an affectionate ruffling of Willy’s hair, he walked out the bathroom escaping from a flying towel. 

-

Lucien’s fingers really  weren’t  feeling like moving smoothly over the keys… he gave up in the end. He felt clumsy and way too distracted to actually focus on  even the simplest piece he knew. So many thoughts were fogging his mind and all had William as protagonist. He groaned and  his forehead landed straight on a bunch of keys intensifying the moment with such an unmelodic “ THWANG ” .  

A purring meow called for him and a paw started patting his head. Lucien looked up to see  Fantôme  sitting on top of the piano staring down at him with curious eyes. 

“What am I supposed to do,  petit ?” He leaned his cheek on the keys, pouting. “ I’m starting to lose control already…” Her only response was another playful meow and her paw patted his ear. He puffed annoyed. It was true though, he was feeling like things were getting out of hand, especially after that little accident he had few hours ago, if he still thought about it he was going to need another pack of ice over his crotch . 

He was falling for him  again . Just like old times, when the two of them shared the same room, most of the times Sniper’s favourite nest, silently enjoying each other’s company and having a game of cards. They used to have those rare peaceful evenings especially in the last year of the war, where the  Blu  and the Red team had joined to fight against the hordes of robots. It had been a tough year for  every single one of them, but it had its own advantages. New friendships were forged and many of the ex-mercenaries still have their contacts  living . Lucien had truly wished  keeping his with the Red Sniper, but somehow he felt like the shooter was uninterested in some way and so he eventually kept his mouth shut and left for starting a new life. 

He  remembered well their last day at the  Base,  they  all had spent the previous two days  on guard,  being sure it was really the end of the war, then to finally celebrate in big style.  He had seen the Red Sniper at the phone that evening, h e couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he could see how euphoric he was, and that was the moment when he understood that the shooter wasn’t going to be at his side ever again. He had walk ed up to the  Blu  D octor, who has been a dear friend and ally during the war, left him a short letter to  give to the Sniper and  left , despite Doc’s protests,  to never come back to the Base.

As he saw the Sniper’s face again  few years apart from the war, incredibly  far from his  home and technically alone, his thoughts twisted in a big confusion and his own balance started immediately to crumble. 

“Would be wise to tell him?”

Fantôme  purred and climbed down , she  lazily  lay  over his  head with legs stretched out over his cheek and her tail setting over his face.

“I find your help debatable.” 

-

“I got it.” Willy quickly got up as the doorbell rang. Big Nik couldn’t avoid noticing the big smile his friend had on his face, something he hadn’t seen in quite a long time , and that made him truly wonder .  “Hi, Lucien, please,  do  come in, do come in.”

Lucien shyly moved inside and handed Willy a small box. “I hope you don’t mind a little gift.”

Big Nik came closer and  heartily greeted the blondie with another powerful handshake.  “Another one?  You spoil us, sir.” He joked and invited him to sit down at the table. “Come on, dinner’s ready. We hope you like roast.”

“I’m a simple man who loves any kind of fine home cooking.” He winked at the giant, making him laugh.

In the meanwhile Willy couldn’t resist opening the box and he gaped as he saw the content. “No, Lucien, this is just too much.” There were three packages of three different kinds of coffees, all of exquisite taste. 

“Shush, it’s the least I could do after today’s adventure.”

Willy snorted and set the box on the kitchen counter. “By the way, how are you feeling?”

“Still alive, I don’t complain.”

Big Nik raised a brow at them as he started serving the food. “ Could I know what really happened today? ” 

As they finished telling the story of cats and shelves, the big man was having big difficulties in keeping a straight face , and  soon he exploded into a barking laugh, his fist punching the table causing a little earthquake in the kitchen , with  Willy punching his shoulder, glaring at him. Nik tried to apologize, but to his and Willy’s surprise ,  Lucien was laughing hard as well, tears started to appear in his eyes. Willy soon joined them holding his belly. 

The dinner went on more calmly, smoothly going through classic chatting about habits, music, jobs, and Lucien noticed with much amazement how the big man was interested into knowing him deeply. It was weird, but not unpleasant,  and not  in any way rude, he soon started to feel a hint of worry toward the big man  though , but then he realized he was tr ying to connect him to William, to protect him first, wanting to be sure he could leave his friend with him. After a while he even started suggesting them to spend more time together and maybe playing together too. Willy was excited at the idea, he was really curious to hear Lucien playing. Lucien was excited too, but at the same time he felt panic growing within.

When it was time to leave, Willy approached him at the door. “Would be it ok if we try a play tomorrow?”

Lucien tried to hide his gulping, he really wanted to play with him, but wanted also to find an excuse…. “Sure, I don’t work on Saturdays or Sundays, you can come anytime.” He  ceded,  his heart pounding.

Willy’s face enlightened with joy and wished him goodnight as he left. 

Big Nik was already washing the dishes, smiling to himself knowing he could trust Lucien for now, he still needed to go more deeply, but he didn’t see anything wrong into them playing together. Once he finished he felt like eating a last thing and he searched for the ingredients of his favourite snack. “Where’s the peanut butter?” He asked.

“Oh.” Willy  said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll add a chapter each weekend from now on until the end of this short fiction :) If you don't see any new chapter, don't fear, I'll probably add it on Monday, or will write on my Tumblr account news about it.  
> I'm still astonished about how much this work got liked, I'll try my best for not letting you down!


	6. Rough morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly NSFW

Almost there….almost…. _there_ …. ah, he could feel he was going to _scream._ His heart was pounding hard in his chest, so hard he could feel it in his throat. He felt disoriented and his mind was foggy, but he didn’t care, all he needed were those big hands running over his skin, massaging all his sensitive spots, delicately, but eagerly, and those thin lips leaving a trace of soft kisses over his belly…climbing up his chest….nibbling at his Adam’s apple, at his chin….a pointy nose brushing on his stub. A long…sensual…sniff…a gasp, and finally his lips got into a passionate touch with his own. In the meanwhile, those hands had travelled all the way down, one thumb pressed hard on his hip, causing him to moan and arch his back, allowing the hand to smoothly crawl at the low of his back and to _tease_ as his nails started leaving red marks on his butt cheek in that solid, strong grip…

He never felt so alive in _years_ , his own predatory instinct silently rose from his hidden prison and his hands started to leave red marks on his partner’s back, shoulders, arms…when he grabbed his buttocks, his partner _growled_ and trembled, slightly sliding forward providing a new, much appreciated friction to their frotting. With a new stamina, his partner pressed more insistently over him, his hips made their way gently pushing deeper, inviting him to spread his legs a bit more, just for comfort, and he couldn’t refuse. They kissed more, they bit each other’s neck….they shared caresses, listened carefully to their moans, treasuring them in their memories. Suddenly he felt a hand sliding between their bellies and have a solid grip on both their throbbing lengths, sending a shocking wave through his body. He couldn’t hold himself anymore, those skilled fingers were driving him crazy…he hugged him tightly hiding his face in the nook of his neck, panting and trying to relax to resist a bit longer. He felt his lips kissing his cheek and murmuring something in his ear, something which he unfortunately couldn’t understand over his own whispering…

… _Sniper…_

_William…!_

 

Lucien’s eyes snapped open. He confusedly looked around, desperately trying to understand where he was, just to see he was in his own bed, panting and trembling like a leaf. He was laying on his side, his fingers tightly gripping at his pillow, and the first thing he saw moving in the semi-light was Fantôme, who had lifted her head from her little bed in the corner of the room and was watching him with curious, yet sleepy eyes. She let out a soft purring meow and closed her eyes, giving him the good morning.

He took a deep, slow breath, trying with all his might to not panic, he was achingly hard and the guilt for it was crashing him. He didn’t dare to move an inch, not until he felt his muscles unclench just enough to lie on his back and stretch his legs. He raised his hands to his eyes and laid his palms on his brows, pressing down and massaging.

He couldn’t believe it…there was one thing he would never have guessed to end up doing again after he left the Base and it was having fantasies of him and the Red Sniper together. It’s been years, it’s been sudden and incredibly vivid. It was… _amazing_.

He quickly bent his knees and rolled on his other side, both his hands between his legs as a strong rush of pleasure struck him down, making the need almost painful. A hand reappeared from under the blanket and he rubbed his face, hiding it from the feeble light of the sunrise, too ashamed of himself; the other hand smoothly travelled in his pants and he jerked at the lightest touch.

In no time he was panting hard, biting down at his pillow hoping to muffle the noises he was unwillingly making as he gave himself long, strong strokes, wishing to end it quickly. He soon started contorting and moving under the blankets, his hips slightly thrusting forward at each stroke as if they had a mind of their own…

He was way too focused on the dream he just had and he couldn’t forget those imaginary hands caressing him and those lips kissing his… His climax was sudden and quite intense, leaving him in a worse state he woke up in. He stood there immobile for several minutes, until his heart stopped racing and his breathing was regular again.

_What the fuck am I going to do today…?_

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. He needed a shower, a really cold shower.

Once used a tissue for his hand, Lucien shakily sat up, when suddenly he heard a faint brushing noise coming from the other room. Fantôme quickly jumped on and ran to check. He frowned and got up despite his jelly knees, his walking was a bit unstable, but he managed to follow the fur ball to the hall, finding her playing with a paper on the ground next to the main door. It was a note:

 

_I need to go to Mama Ryn first. Catch you later, Willy_

 

Lucien frowned and checked the clock on the wall, it’s wasn’t even 6am… His face enlightened with realization, he had forgotten the Sniper used to wake up at dawn every day, apparently the man had kept the habit. He walked to the balcony, curious to see if he had gone back to his flat or had gone downstairs. In few seconds he saw the familiar lanky figure slowly walking away from the courtyard of the building.

_Where are you going, bushman? Mama Ryn won’t open until 8am…_

-

Without any fret, Willy calmly trotted down the way for the shops’ street. He didn’t need to advert Heavy about his exit, it wasn’t unusual for him to find his friend gone for a walk at dawn, but he felt like he needed to leave Lucien a note, he didn’t know when he would have been back.

The last time they had taken about 20-25 minutes to arrive at Mama Ryn’s shop, so he took all the time in the world. He would have looked around, enjoying seeing the first people preparing their new day, and would have loved to try his first breakfast out. There were rare people moving around, some transporting small crates of fruits, vegetables and so on, others guiding small trucks to their shops. The street smelled so good of fruits and hot bread, and that made his stomach grumble already. Another aroma caught his nostrils: coffee. A bar was already open and few clients were already enjoying their breakfasts. It would have been a sin to not trying it out.

He had chosen a table next to the big window on the street and silently watched people starting to appear more and more in the view as he tasted a nice cup of coffee. He had never seen such an area with so many different kinds of people, so many shapes and sizes and colours, it was truly a nice view. After some time the waitress approached him asking if he wanted something else, he clumsily picked a pancake, still too focused in his thoughts, she giggled and came back after few minutes. He paid on the spot, leaving her an abundant tip.

His mind was still slightly foggy after the animated night he had. He knew now whose accent Lucien’s reminded him of. The Blu Spy’s. As soon as he got reminded of him, he couldn’t get him out of his head.

Just like old times.

He was still furious at him, leaving like that after years working together, the first ones one against the other, the latest ones as colleagues. They had gotten pretty close, where there was one, the other was surely next to him. They fought so many times one against the other’s side that their teams couldn’t think of them as different individuals. They were a team of their own. And the bloody bastard left a note to Theodore for him and disappeared. He still had that note, he kept it in his wallet since that day, and every time he read it, his hate for him grew a little more. He had no apparent reason to disappear like that.

He took a bite, trying to distract himself. He regretted a lot not having asked his name… he didn’t even know how he looked under that mask of his. For him he was just “Spook”, and for Spook he was “Bushman”. They never actually cared to share their names, not until it was too late. Spook probably knew his though, Willy doubted he kept his nose out of Red files, but he gave no sign to know.

 _Bloody Spook…_ He sighed as his last night’s memories came back to him, making him blush. He hadn’t had fantasies like those in years, especially about the Spook…where he…and himself did…quite passionate… _things_ …

He quickly ate the last pieces and got out on the street.

It was still a bit early, but Mama Ryn was in the shop and she let him in anyway as she saw him passing in front of the door. “Good morning, darling. Come this way.” She led him in the back where a big fluffy cat welcomed him with a cuddle against his shins.

He kneeled to pet him. “Sorry I came this early, Mama Ryn.”

She waved it off and she started digging in a tight closet. Willy held a snort when he lifted his eyes from the cat to just see a big heart-shaped frivolously-dressed bottom popping out from the closet. He politely looked away just in time as she turned around holding a big bag with the stuff he had bought the day before. “There you go!” She chirped.

He thanked her and was ready to go, when she called him back.

“Wouldn’t you stay for a cookie, dear?” Her smile was so sweet he couldn’t refuse. And the cookie was delicious, too. “Take as many as you like, lad.” He chuckled at her joyful way to call him despite his true age. She made him sit at the table with her. “Thanks for taking care of my little Lucien, he told me you’ve been quite a gentleman.” She winked at him and caught him blushing.

“Did he…really say so?”

She laughed and nodded. “He did, darling, he did, and I couldn’t be happier to hear he found a friend like you.”

“O-Oh, well…I…I’m happy to have met him, yesterday evening he came over for dinner and it’s been a nice quality time.”

“So it’s true he got out from his hole! Haha, I thought he was kidding about it!”

“He…doesn’t go out much?”

She sighed. “He’s a shy man and often prefers to stay indoors, away from others. He just goes out for necessities. I’ve tried for years to have him come at parties, to know new people and have a little of new distractions, it worked at first, but then he saw it wasn’t for him and became the hermit he is today.” She laughed sadly.

Willy dared a question. “Doesn’t he have any family?”

“No, darling, he’s alone. Yet, once he hinted he was in a relationship with someone, but he never told me anything about it though, just that it ended pretty badly.”

“That’s…quite sad…” He munched at another cookie, looking worried.

“And what about you, if may I ask?” She offered a bright smile, hoping to bright the topic up a bit, but it immediately died as she saw the abrupt change on Willy’s face. His eyes got shiny in a second and he looked ready to collapse, but he gulped, holding on tight, and got up, not looking at her anymore.

“Sorry, but I’m…not ready to talk about it.”

Mama Ryn got up quickly and carefully caressed his arm, searching for his eyes. “Darling, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be tactless.”

“It’s ok, ma’am.” He offered her a thin smile. “I-I think I’ll get going. Thanks for the cookies, they’re delicious.”

She thought for a moment and came out with a little idea. “Would you do me a little favour? Why don’t you take them with you? And have Lucien have some, will you?” And before he could say a thing, Mama Ryn was already packing them.

He took the little pack too, smiling, and nodded at her, “Will do, ma’am.”

“Call me Mama, young man.” She pouted and kept the door open for him. “Come back soon, darling!”

And off he was.

-

It was 8am when Willy arrived at the building, he was tempted as he went upstairs to knock on Lucien’s door, but maybe it was better waiting another couple of hours, he didn’t want to bother him, but a little paper on Lucien’s doormat caught his attention. He frowned wondering if it was his note that somehow got out, but when he picked it up, he was happy to see it was Lucien’s reply.

 

         _Knock anytime._

_Lucien_

 

He didn’t lose time.

On the other side of the door, Lucien was trying to keep a straight face – without counting also a straight behaviour- and took all his courage to open the door.

“G’morning, mate.”

It was really, really hard for him to keep his mask, facing him caused him to feel his ears go immediately hot. “Good morning, Willy. Please, come in.”

Willy obliged showing a sincere bright smile. “I hope it’s not a problem coming this early.”

“Not at all, my friend. Sit where you like, I can’t wait to show you the scores I picked. I see you visited Mama Ryn, ah, you need a moment to fix everything?”

Willy set everything down and the box of cookies on the table. He scratched his head, nodding, slightly blushing.

“Let’s move this way: while you prepare your sax, I’ll play you few parts, so we could choose for later.”

“Awesome idea!” He suddenly gasped. “My sax! I left it on the bed. I’ll be right back!”

Lucien snorted as he rushed to the door.

Yep, he had totally fallen for the lanky guy…again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeling pretty tired in these last days, and I apologize if this chapter hasn't come out as smooth as the previous ones...  
> Yet, I have good news for the ones who liked my tentaspy's chapter, I got so inspired by certain pictures that I'm planning to uplaod for next Thursday (April, 9th) and new chapter ^^ Let's hope for the best and for extra time, lol  
> I'm planning to go back to my main fiction too "The truth in your eyes", I wanted to upload the NSFW chapter weeks ago, but with school's projects and this sudden new fiction I couldn't keep both up at the same time...  
> In short, in probably the next 10 days I'll upload 3 chapters of 3 different fictions. *crosses fingers*
> 
> I'm also sketching fanart about my sniperspy couples (tentaspee included), which I'll upload soon on my Deviantart page and Tumblr :)
> 
> I'm a bit rusty on NSFW content, hearing what you think is always appreciated and it'll help for future chapters :)
> 
> See you all soon and, as always, thanks for everything!  
> 2Due


	7. Baby don't you want to go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE THANK YOU TO DANDELIONBOYS FOR THE AMAZING FANART! <3 Go look their art, it's marvelous!

Lucien shook his head as he heard Willy’s knocking on the door. “You know it’s open.” He told him as he got in.

“Didn’t want to be rude…” He hid behind his retrieved sax, “Entering like that, without permission.”

Lucien scoffed. “You don’t need any here.” Willy looked at him very surprised and he quickly turned, realizing too late the slip. The lanky man’s cheeks were slightly coloured.

Despite feeling his feet heavy, Lucien walked to the piano and sat down. “Here, have some example of what I had in mind.”

Shyly, Willy grabbed the offered music sheets and sat at the table, setting down the sax. He blinked in shock seeing how many pieces Lucien had chosen, there were so freaking many! He gladly noticed they had been rearranged for duets. “You thought of a discography?” He chuckled as the other man recoiled looking away with an embarrassed smile. “Let’s see…” He silently started running among the pages…. Charlie Parker, Elvis Presley, Pinetop Perkins, Floyd Dixon, Duke Ellington… many classic jazz pieces, swing, R&B, rock, blues…surely there were tuned-up pieces, he even found Blues Brothers! He giggled as he remembered the movie that recently had come out. John Coltrane and…oh! Rhapsody in Blue, a golden classic. He picked a couple of works and eagerly showed them to Lucien. “I’m really curious to hear you playing these.”

Lucien’s brows raised and he showed a cocky grin. “Just give me the titles.”

“Rhapsody in blue and Minnie the moocher. You really don’t need these?” He frowned, smirking.

“You forget I’m a teacher.” He winked at him and, smoothly moving on the seat, he got ready to play. He gave Willy a last look, he was leaning back on the chair with his fingers entwined in front of him. Somehow he found his smile pretty goofy, but couldn’t deny the fact he was adorable. He slightly shook his head and his fingers started dancing on the keys.

Willy got immediately taken aback. Leaning forward on the table, he carefully analysed Lucien’s smooth yet energetic moving, he couldn’t detach his eyes from him. The melody hit his ears hypnotising him. It started slow, but it was enough to make him forget to breathe once in a while, and when he speeded up, it was hard to even blink. Lucien’s fingers moved so elegant from side to side, and the quick jumps they made one over the other were just… Willy couldn’t find the word to describe it, but he couldn’t stop smiling because of it.

His eyes darted to Lucien’s face. He was so focused! He had a serious expression, but once in a while he let his emotions flow out, and Willy simply found him gorgeous, even with those quick silly faces. He giggled as a lock of blond hair fell in front of his eyes and Lucien simply puffed it back, not daring to detach his hands from the keys.

For 15 minutes, he just listened with his heart in his throat.

[ ](http://artyofisheye.tumblr.com/post/123509511045/for-15-minutes-he-just-listened-with-his-heart)

When Lucien finished his stunning performance, he looked slightly sleepy, as if he had just woken up from a cosy nap, he snapped wild awake as he felt Willy’s eyes on himself. “You forgot your poor sax.” He grinned.

Willy, too, seemed like he was dreaming. “Whe- What!” He straightened up and his shoulders dropped as he saw his instrument forgotten next to him. He sadly picked it up and asked it for forgiveness.

“I hope it didn’t bore you.”

“Not at all, mate! You are so _damn_ good!” Awkwardly, he tried to collect the new pieces he bought from Mama Rin and got set to work. He had a lot of stuff to fix. “Have you ever worked in theatres or…I don’t know, concerts….?”

Lucien sighed. “I used to, but it wasn’t for me. Too many people, too much trouble travelling… Although I always loved travelling, it was exhausting at the time.” He chuckled. “Not the young lad I used to be either.”

Willy lifted his eyes from his working, frowning. “How old can you be? You look 35 to me.”

That surely surprised Lucien, who snorted aloud. “Hitting 42, _mate_.” He joked, dangerously imitating his accent.

“Stop pulling my leg! You can’t be older than me!”

Lucien sympathetically shrugged. “How old are you?”

“40.”

_Not bad._ Lucien thought nodding. “You don’t show it either, though.”

Willy snorted. “Old soul inside, but young outside? Kinda like it.”

“We’re both grandpas.” He laughed and Willy followed.

Lucien’s fingers started dancing again and he winked again at the working saxophonist. Despite his big enthusiasm, Lucien was hiding a big fear inside, the more he stayed with him, the more he felt…bold… he _wanted_ to tease him, he wanted to make him laugh, to see him play with him… But inside he was regretting the moment he accepted to know him better.

His fingers moved again, faster than the original rhythm of the song, and it came out a tuned-up version of Minnie the moocher. It was still lovely and could see Willy moving quickly, eager to join him in the symphony. “Don’t fret, we have all day.” He smiled at him and Willy relaxed on his work.

His fingers seemed to relax too and the song went on smooth and catchy. At some point, Willy stopped in the middle of replacing a key and looked at Lucien: he was singing under his breath.

“Can’t hear you, mate.” He grinned.

The pianist looked up surprised, then shook his head. He quickly played a transition to restart it again.

“ _Hey folks here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher_

_She was a low-down Hoochie Koocher_

_She was the roughest toughest frail_

_But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale”_

Willy was once again hypnotised, by his deep fluid voice, this time. And, man, he was not losing a single word his friend was singing. When he speeded up once again he felt his blood boiling and he _must_ fix his sax for the next songs.

“Your voice is magnificent.” He told him once he was done.

Lucien bowed his head, blushing slightly, “Thanks. I felt it rusty though, I don’t know the last time I actually sang aloud.”

“Nah, it was perfect, mate.”

“So,” he quickly cut the moment, “how is it going there?”

Willy groaned and leaned back. “It’s taking longer than I thought…”

“Do your things, I’ll keep entertaining you until you’re done.”

And he kept playing all the pieces that came to his mind.

-

It was past noon when William finally finished fixing his saxophone. He eagerly stood up triumphant and wet his lips, and started playing at full lungs. It was Lucien’s time to be amazed by the other man’s talent.

Willy improvised, got around with exercises and tried all the keys, many combinations came out but also a nice rhythm. His sax was as good as new! He loved it with all himself.

His foot started moving up and down and he tried Rhapsody in blue too, Lucien’s play had quite had an effect on him and he thought it was his chance to show his friend how tough he was.

“Marvellous! Simply marvellous!” Lucien was clapping when the music had stopped. “You show such a mastery of your instrument I have rarely seen! I’m….I’m pleasantly surprised.” He admitted.

Willy had his goofy smile printed on his face and his ears had gotten really hot. “Geez… thanks, mate, I-“ A loud grumble shocked both of them and all eyes fell on Willy’s stomach.

“You stay for lunch and I don’t accept a no as an answer.” He was in the kitchen in no time, not leaving Willy any time to answer, but just to awkwardly fall on his chair again and see Lucien happily setting the table and starting cooking. Frankly, he hadn’t expected him to stay for lunch, but he could still prepare a nice dish.

_What am I even doing…._ He thought as he picked the spaghetti box. _Get a grip on yourself, Lucien…remember who you were and who he was…and how you two can’t be together…_

Willy in the meanwhile had gotten up to set his sax in his box. Too bad Fantôme had seen it first and had chosen it as her own new bed.

Their meal was quiet animated, among compliments and decisions about the songs for the afternoon. Willy was all about the Blues Brothers, while Lucien was hoping for Elvis Presley. It ended with an agreement for simply both kinds, and the first song to be finally tried together was Sweet home Chicago.

Lucien’s hands were fast over the keys once again, his voice deep and happily guiding William’s marvellous sax through the verses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here some references from my research :)  
> [Rhapsody in blue piano solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH9pU7z1NVk)  
> [ Minnie the moocher piano solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgb2t6T3Weo)  
> [Sweet home Chicago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79vCiXg3njY) Sorry I couldn't find a decent piano sax duet ._. 
> 
> I wanted to thank you all again for all your kind words! I hope you like this new chapter and I'm sorry for having skipped a week update D: Rigging a 3D character is hard and long lol and had quite a troubled week meh  
> Anyway! Past is past and had no consequences :D  
> Next week (April, 20th-23rd) I'll be in Lisboa for a school project and friday 24th I'll finally go to the Legend of Zelda concert in Milan -I've been waiting for it for months lol- so I won't be able to finish the Tentaspy+babytentas chapter...but I promise for next chapter of this fanfic :)
> 
> Thanks again for everything! A big hug to all of you :3
> 
> omg 100 kudos @A@ so many! I wasn't expecting them! Thanks!


	8. Another old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all once again!  
> I finally made it for this chapter and next Sunday I'll upload next already!  
> I hope you enjoy ;u; and I apologize if it's a bit rusty...
> 
> Wish you all a nice day ^^

The sun had already gone to sleep when the two enthusiastic players decided to stop for the day. Lucien’s fingers were cramping and Willy looked out of breath. They both simply flopped on the couch, one massaging his hands, the other taking deep long breaths to readjust his respiration. They had played almost half of the block of sheets Lucien had brought out, touching and enjoying music from the late 50’s and 60’s, and frankly, they were having so much fun they couldn’t stop until now. They soon realized how easily they could coordinate with each other and how easily one could follow and complete one another. It was just amazing and both of them secretly knew.

Actually, Lucien was way too aware of it and it worried him even more, he couldn’t afford to tense his situation up, he couldn’t afford to let his true emotions be seen… he… he was starting to see how ridiculous the whole scene was and how stupid he’s been to allow the Sniper back into his life. He just wanted to run away and hope that William would forget him once for all.

Lucien was so deep into his thoughts he didn’t hear Willy’s first calling.

“Lucien? Are you with us? Lucien!”

“Eh, what? What is it?” The blondie sat up alarmed.

William slightly frowned, but didn’t let it weight too much. “I said that it’s been quite a day, hasn’t it?”

“Oh… yes. Yes, it has.” He froze as the other man stretched his arms over the head, arching his back forward, allowing the low of his belly to be visible for a fraction of second, to then flop them down on the back of the couch, a hand bumped behind his shoulder. He saw him relax and close his eyes. He had to bit his lip hard to not literally jump on him and let his lips run all over his delicious exposed neck.

“I said it already and I say it again, Lu, you are a monster with that piano.” He turned his head to look at him, offering a smile. “I really need to hear you play the flute next time. What class is it?”

Lucien needed a second to find his voice. “A Western concert flute. I have it since I was a kid.”

But before Willy could say anything, the bell rang catching both of them by surprise. Lucien quickly escaped from the couch and went to answer, finding Big Nik’s impressive form looking down at him.

“Evening Lucien, is Willy still here?” He politely asked.

Lucien stepped aside raising his arm to show him the man elegantly sprawled on the couch. “I think that answers your question.” He chuckled and let him in. “Would you like a coffee?” He could act all he wanted, but deep inside, Lucien couldn’t stop feeling like a little mouse when Nik was present. It unnerved him.

Nik brought one big hand to his heart and apologetically bowed his head. “I thank you, but I’m afraid I have no time for that, I’m here to kidnap the lanky man there.”

“What? Why?” Willy protested sitting up.

Nik turned to him. “Ted is here and we’re going out for dinner.”

Willy darted on his feet. “What? He had to arrive tomorrow.”

“I know, I’ll explain later. We need to go.” He turned to Lucien. “I apologize for such an intermission.”

Lucien waved it off. “No need, no need! It’s ok. Hurry up, Willy, don’t make them wait.”

The tall guy was already packing his stuff, moving the cat out from a bag of his -earning a loud protest from her- and he was ready to go in no time. “I’ll catch you tomorrow for next time. Thanks for today, Lu.” He winked at him before the big guy dragged him out.

“Have a good evening, Lucien!” Nik saluted and they both disappeared upstairs.

Lucien waved at them and closed the door. Immediately he leaned against it and collapse as his knees went jelly. “That guy will be my ruin.”

Fantôme trotted to him and sneakily climbed on his belly and tried to roll up there, still very annoyed by the rude way she got kicked out from her last bed.

“Yes, you’ll be my ruin as well.” He scratched her head as she purred.

-

“OHGOD!” Willy screamed as soon as he set foot in his flat and a couple of huge Dobermans tackled him to the ground, happily yapping and licking all over his face. His struggles ended the moment someone snapped his fingers.

“I guess they missed you, eh, Willy?” Theodore chuckled as he walked to him to help him up.

He laughed. “You think?”

“It’s so good to see you, _mein Freund_!” Ted pulled him into a tight man hug, patting his back, then he stepped back holding his shoulders. “Look at you, you really look better than last time I saw you!” He excitedly grabbed his face. “You have finally gained few pounds, I see! I’m so glad to see you being so well, you gave us such a scare last time.”

With a sharp tug, Willy got free from Ted’s strong grip and smiled embarrassed. “Thanks, doc, to be honest I’m glad too.” He turned to the big dogs, which hearing Ted’s snapping immediately retreated and sat next to Nik, immobile as statues, but happily accepting the big guy’s patting on their heads. They were Maud, a strong albino male, and his sister Galiana, an elegant brown female. They were 10 years old and they’ve been with Theodore since birth. William kneeled and hugged the two beasts, patting them and letting them have their fun with him until he was so messy he really needed to wash. “When we’re leaving?” He asked while trying to get the dogs down.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Nik said.

“Come on, scoot scoot. Hurry up, man, we’re waiting for you!” Ted grumbled and snapped his fingers once again, twice. The dogs immediately laid down gaining a satisfied nod from their owner. Willy rushed to the bathroom for obvious reasons.

Theodore sighed. “I thought you were exaggerating about him.”

Nik shook his head. “Told you he’s a bit better.” He paused few seconds, thoughtful. “Today he spent his time with our neighbour, they seem to have become good friends in no time.”

Ted looked up at him, frowning. “You told me nothing about it.”

Nik shrugged. “If it wasn’t me, he’d be telling you anyway.” He scoffed as Ted hit him on his wide chest.

“You know you have to tell me anything.” He said, annoyed. “I don’t want to risk having Willy in company of bad people, especially in this period.” He hissed.

Nik groaned. “You talking like we’re his parents.”

That froze both of them and Nik looked at the floor, shameful. A warm hand came to his cheek bringing a thumb brushing his skin. In that moment Nik just hoped Willy hadn’t heard that.

“I just want him to be safe and go on with his life in peace.”

Nik nodded. “I think we found a nice person. Although we haven’t known him for long, I have the feeling we can trust him. Willy looks so happy around him.”

Ted patted his cheek and smiled. “Then I have to meet this guy and see myself.”

Big Nik nodded again and after a moment of silence, he smirked and bent down, leaning his chin on the doctor’s shoulder. “You haven’t said hi to me yet, by the way.”

Ted grinned and chuckled. “I did so many times already, _Liebe_.” He turned to fully face the giant.

“One more time won’t hurt.” He winked.

“You’re such a spoiled big man. Get down here.” Moving his head slightly to the side, he let Nik brush his lips over his in a tender kiss, as a big hand sneakily travelled up his arm.

“Get a room, you two.”

Nik broke the kiss sharply and turned to the door, not wanting his roommate to see him that way. Theodore wasn’t so secretive and simply ignored Willy’s tease.

“Oh, looking good, I see.” He commented seeing how shiny and clean the lanky man came out from the bathroom. He was in evening fresh clothes, nothing too elegant, but enough to still give a very nice appeal. Nik was outside already. “He told me you made a friend here.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s a nice guy, he lives right downstairs.” He took the coat and followed the big guy, while Ted checked one last time if his dogs had food and water right at hand and got out, locking the door.

“Hmm… why don’t we ask him to come with us? It could be a nice way to know him, too. You know if he’s busy?” Theodore seemed pretty excited at the idea and noticed how Willy reacted. He wasn’t very good in hiding his own excitement.

“I don’t know, doc… he may be. I don’t want to disturb him more than I did today.” He gulped. “But…we could ask, I guess.”

Ted lifted a brow, grinning. He found it very interesting seeing his friend being shy, and he and Nik followed at Lucien’s door.

“He lives here,” he rang the bell and waited.

The door opened few moments later and Lucien blinked at him, surprised. “Hi again, Willy.”

“Ehy, was wondering if…you’d come with us for dinner? If you’re not busy, of course.”

“Oh. Oh! Sure, sure, I’m come gladly, thank you!” In that moment he noticed the mighty figure of Nik and took a step back to invite them in while waiting for him to get ready.

“Oh, by the way, he’s Theodore.” Willy cheerfully announced, letting the man move forward.

Lucien thrust his hand for a handshake and as their hands gripped one another, he looked up at the man’s face…and skipped a heartbeat, becoming as pale as a ghost. The other man’s face was already ashen.

 _Theodore, the Blu Medic_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [HERE](http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/albino-animals-3-21__880.jpg) a ref for Maud and Galiana, I imagine them like the two beauties on the right :)


	9. From awkward to dangerous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go :3  
> I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Enjoy! ^^

“Theo, this is Lucien.” Willy happily continued the presentation, completely unaware of the unbelievable tension that was born between them.

For a very, _very_ long second both Lucien and Theodore stared at each other in mute shock, their hands tangled in a tight grip.

It was Lucien who broke the silence first, his mind quickly engaging, ready to take a huge risk. He clasped Theo’s hand tightly in both his and gave him an energetic handshake. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir.” He said with an implausible calm, but his fingers were spasming old signs used in the war against the doctor’s palm. He was desperately trying to get his full attention signing _Please play along - Please play along - Please play along_   

Ted was completely taken aback, but he quickly regained his senses and -with much effort- he gulped and firmly signed his acceptance, forcing a smile. “Mine, too, sir.” They untangled their hands.

“Please, have a sit, I won’t take long, just a minute.” He started trotting to his room. “Willy,” he called from there, “You know the house, please guide them.” And he disappeared to change.

Willy simply flopped on the couch and signed for them to do so too, but the couple preferred to remain standing.

Nik frowned looking at Ted. “Something’s wrong?”

The doctor gave him a cheerful chuckle. “No, of course not.” But he failed hiding a worried note.

Nik’s eyes darted from him to William, from him to the door where Lucien disappeared behind, and then back to Willy. “He…knows about us?”

“I said nothing to him,” Willy said, “but I don’t think he’s the kind of person to mind such relationships.”

Ted bit his inner cheek. Hard. _Gottverdammt. Gottverdammt! Gottverdammt!!_ _This is a total mess._

In the other room, Lucien was trying with all his might to muffle at his best his screaming in a pile of big towels. When he was done and calmed down, he looked up at his own reflection in the mirror and never felt so much need to let tears go. He messily washed his face, splashing water everywhere, took a very long deep breath and stood still. Teddy was here, too. The very last man he thought to meet again, in the company of the men who used to be the Red Sniper and the Red heavy weapon guy, and the only living guy to have seen his face during the war.

**_What the fuck is he doing here?!_ **

_Ok….Calm down, Lucien, calm down. This is a very shitty situation….you’ve been in wors-Who am I kidding?!_ His hands shot up into his hair, gripping as if he had talons. _This is the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever been in. It looks like a fucking joke! Is it something I did in the past?! If there is someone up there, they have a cruel sense of humour!_ He straightened up and using the last drop of sanity he had in his body, he quickly dressed up and got all shiny and elegant, took good care of details and gave himself a last glance. _If I’m going to die tonight, at least I’ll have my good suit on…_

He quickly moved out and headed to his room again. “One last thing and we can go. Have you already chosen the place?” He opened his wardrobe and waited for the answer.

Nik’s voice echoed in his flat. “We picked the _Steam Tavern_ , you know it?”

Lucien had opened a secret panel, deep in the wardrobe and had taken out one of his precious pygmy butterfly knives. _Not bad._ He thought of the restaurant. Good food, warm atmosphere, cordial service. “Nice choice, if I may say so myself. I haven't been there in a while.” He regarded the knife with a look. He knew he wasn’t going to need it, surely not against the three of them, but he felt dreadfully naked that evening and needed for a little presence to give him comfort, and he always found it in his knives. Just for good measure. He placed it in a secret pocket in his left sleeve and was ready to go. After all, streets in the evening were never safe, not even in their city.

As he entered the hall, he felt Ted’s heavy staring on him. He hardly acknowledged it and focused on William, who was on the couch petting the furball of the house. “Ready to go.” He let them exit first and locked the door behind.

“Hungry?” Willy asked him as they were down in the courtyard. “I hope so, because I’m starving.”

_That’s going to be an infinite night…_

As soon as they set foot in the street, Lucien felt like an attraction. Big Nik was towering over them and keeping an eye on all of them; Theodore never detached his eyes from his back, Lucien had never felt so guilty in his life; and William… he was glued to his side, silent, but his presence was like a beacon in the dark, naively being too happy of the situation, while Lucien wanted just to be three meters underground.

“May I ask you few things, Lucien?” Ted’s voice hit his ears like a bullet.

The ex-spy turned his head slightly to him, never stop walking. “But of course.”

“I saw a piano in your apartment, do you play as a hobby or a job?”

“Both, actually, I’m a private teacher.”

“And you should hear him playing, mate!” Willy dropped into the conversation like a bomb. “I still have his notes ringing in my ears after today.” He snorted as Lucien gave him a gentle swat on the arm to make him stop. “What? I’ve sincerely never heard someone mastering those keys like you had.”

“You and the sax, then? What about it?”

Willy sighed, amused. “Come on, mate, I was just having fun.”

“On a master level, too!”

And soon those two were lost again remembering the pieces they played together in the afternoon. That made Theodore and Nikolai exchange a surprised look, and the big guy just shrugged it off with a big smile, but Ted wasn’t of the same humour.

Five more minutes of walking and they reached Theodore’s car.

“Mate, you parked it miles away from us!”

“I can’t do anything about it if there are no parking spot under your door.” He growled while opening it. “Come on, get in. No! I drive, Nik.”

Big Nik pouted and went to take the front seat, the poor car slightly unbalancing as he sat down. Lucien and William sat in the back, of course. It wasn’t a long trip, luckily.

Theodore drove through the main street, he was uncommonly silent and constantly checking the mirror, and Nik noticed how tensed he looked. He poked him on the knee, catching his attention, but Ted simply shrugged at him.

_It’s not what you’re thinking, Liebe._

The street was still fully alive, people enjoying their time under coloured lights and accompanied by old school rock music, holding drinks and laughing loudly. Yet, a person caught Lucien’s eye, there was Mama Rin on the street, away from the crowd and looking quite troubled.

“Wait, wait, wait, stop the car!” As Ted hit the brakes, he jumped out.

“Where you going?” Willy called after him, following him. Ted and Nik rushed out, too.

“Mama Rin!” He reached her, finding her in tears. “Mama, what’s wrong?” He tried to settle her, holding her by her shoulders.

“Lucien! It’s Janel! I can’t find her! We went out after Simon, we couldn’t find him anywhere and now she disappeared, too! There’s Mr. J. and Kim around, too, but we haven’t heard from her in an hour!”

“Mama, Mama, calm down, we’ll help.” He offered her his handkerchief. “Willy, please accompany her home, I go search for Janel. Mama, where did she headed to?”

“She was going toward the warehouses, but we didn’t find her there.” She blew her nose. “No way I’m going home, darling! I’ll keep searching no matter what!”

Lucien sighed at her strong determination and nodded. “But please, stay close this area, she might be coming home. I go.” And he was off before she could say another thing.

Willy stayed close to her and helped her to search around the street and the backside of the shop, whilst Ted and Nik decided to follow Lucien.

The warehouses were just around the corner, not far from the backside of Mama Rin’s shop, but they were big and full of any source of crates.

“I suggest splitting up, I search the east wing, you two the north and west ones. If you find her bring her immediately home.”

The couple agreed and splat up, while Lucien searched around the east wing warehouse. For a few minutes there was just silence, but then he heard a scream coming from inside.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT:  
> Big thanks to [fawnish](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6751589/) for helping me out and correcting my typos and errors!  
> I apologize again for my English ^^; It’s not my first language and few things had escaped my sleepy eyes lol  
> Few things are done on porpuse, so I kept them that way J  
> See you next weekend!


	10. Old habits hardly die

More screams came from inside the building and Lucien sped up, running around the perimeter searching for the entrance. He was hoping with all his heart to not find the girl in the worst of the situations or he would have never forgiven himself for not having been able to save her.

He finally could see a door. With his heart in his throat, he tried the handle and thanked God when he found the door open. It was very dark inside and he easily sneaked silently in, his eyes soon adjusting and quickly searching for movements. There was a far light behind a wall of crates and voices coming from behind it. Hidden in the shadow, Lucien quickly moved, stealthily; he removed his jacket abandoning it on a pole and, with knife in hand, glued his back against a crate and got ready to turn around the corner.

“Leave him alone!”

It was Janel, and after that he heard a loud thud and someone groaning.

With anger flaming in his being and weapon ready to strike, he dashed out from his hidden spot and…immediately froze when he saw three guys groaning on the ground, rolled up in pain. Not far from them there was Janel, in fight position, ready to send the last guy standing down with his mates. Simon had climbed over her shoulders and was wildly hissing at the ruffian. Lucien had to blink twice to believe the scene, but at last he noticed the guy wielding a weapon, a long dagger, as he started yelling disgraceful and racist insults at her.

*tang-clang-clang…* The dagger fell noisily on the ground.

“That’s such an indelicate way to speak to a lady.” Lucien hissed behind the guy’s ear, his hand tightly holding both his arms behind his back, while the other kept the sharp blade dangerously close to his jugular, brushing his dirty skin.

Janel gasped and squinted trying to visualize better the new face behind the terrorized criminal. “…Lucien…?!”

Lucien winked at her and raised a finger to sign silence. “Come over here, darling.” The man tried to get advantage of Lucien’s distraction, but couldn’t know the blondie was always alert. “You’d better not try my patience, _monsieur_.” The punk didn’t even dare to gulp, the strength his capturer had shown was surprising and that knife under his pome wasn’t inviting.

“Are you the only ones here?” Lucien asked, his voice low, dark, menacing. Just like old times, he thought.

“Y-Yes.” He rasped. “L-Listen, let us go and we won’t bother anyone a-anymore.”

Lucien nodded, quite amazed by the guy’s cowardice. “Impressive how you punks bow your head so fast. Apologize to the lady.”

“W-wha..?!”

Lucien’s knife delicately brushed under the pome, drawing a thin line of blood and a pained hiss. “Be a gentleman for once in your life, will you?”

Gritting his teeth, the young man looked at Janel and growled a simple “Sorry.” But Lucien wasn’t satisfied and tightened his grip, sending a sharp pain down his spine. “AGH! Fine, fine! I apologize for assaulting you, lady.”

“Hm, I don’t think we’re going to have more than that, Lu.” Janel crossed her arms and chuckled.

“Agree.” And with a fast smooth movement of his wrists he turned the guy around, hit hard a couple of times his chest taking his breath and with a last frontal slap he sent him to the ground, unconscious.

Janel looked at Lucien with big eyes, dismayed. “You need to teach me that.”

Lucien blinked at her and looked down at the other three guys still rolled up on the ground. One was clearly fainted, the others were probably faking to be asleep. “After what you did to them? Girl, you don’t need me. Now go search for a rope.”

Janel smiled at him and, before he could realize it, she was hugging him tightly. Lucien carefully closed his butterfly knife and tucked it in a pocket before hugging her back. Simon was purring loudly against their shins.

“Are you alright?” He asked taking her face in his hands checking this and that side.

“Don’t worry, Lu. Now let’s hurry.” And she was off to search for a rope.

“You’re pretty good with knots, too, girl.” Lucien said seeing how she had arranged the four guys. They had been elegantly tied up against a big metallic container –all unconscious thanks to Lucien- with a nice bow on the front, ready for when the police would be there in short. “Oh wait, I have this, too.” And a big black marker appeared between his fingers. The two exchanged a grin.

“I had no idea you could fight, where have you learnt those moves?” Janel asked him as they walked outside. Simon trotted at their side.

Lucien fell silent for a long moment and sighed. “I’d prefer to not talk about it. Would you keep it secret for me, Janel?”

The girl frowned at him, he had so suddenly become…sad. She nodded, crossing her heart. “Would you still teach me that thing you did though?”

_Ah, kids these days._ “Fine, but if someone asks you, you learnt it watching TV.”

 

They found all the others at the entrance of the warehouses area. Janel quickly picked Simon up, raising him over her head as Mama Rin turned around noticing her. “Found him!” She yelled and Mama Rin was quickly in front of her.

“You ok, dear? You surely took your time, gave us all quite a scare!” She hugged her and glared at the cat. “You’re so grounded, mister.” Yet she laughed as he started shamelessly purring at her. “Where did the little devil end up to?”

“He got stuck in one of the warehouses. We had to climb up to get him down.” Lucien quickly lied and Janel nodded.

“Are you hurt?” Willy unexpectedly asked him, worried, pointing at his side.

Lucien frowned. “No, I’m not-“ There was a thin line of red on his white shirt. He grimaced. “I got blood on my shirt… I must have hit something without realizing it.” He didn’t, probably he had stained himself with the punk’s blood as he folded the knife.

“Let’s get you fixed up, darling, and since we’re at it let’s have some dinner, I bet you all are starving!”

-

Lucien was exhausted and felt as heavy as an elephant while climbing his stairs, following Theo, Nik and Willy. Mama Rin’s food had been simply marvellous, better than any restaurant in town, but she had the habit to stuff his dears up for good, almost fearing to see them starving. She looked so perplexed when she exanimated his side, there was no wound of course and it’s been hard to have her stopping checking.

“Would you like a last drink, Lu?”

His attention got fully captured by William’s voice. “I’d love to, but I’m too tired to take another step, let’s make another evening maybe?”

“No problem, mate, it’s pretty late after all. Well, goodnight, Lu. I’ll get you tomorrow, we still have half sheets block to play.” He snorted and patted him on the shoulder before heading upstairs.

“Good night, Lucien.” Nik’s voice thundered in the little hall.

Theo offered his hand and Lucien cautiously shook it. As he expected, the medic signed him a message. _Talk. Later._ Lucien nodded and wished them all goodnight.

-

Theodore smoothly got out of the bed and quickly got dressed. Nik looked like he had gone into hibernation and would likely not hear him moving out of the room. The kitchen clock signed 3am, but he knew Lucien was probably awake. He quickly checked the door of William’s room and listened carefully. Satisfied to hear him snoring he quickly got out.

He didn’t even need to knock on the door to have it open, with Lucien tiredly standing behind it. He quickly got inside and, as Lucien locked it, he didn’t let him even talk, he tackled him in a tight embrace, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

And then he punched him in the face. Hard. “That’s for leaving with a note!”

 

Lucien pressed the ice bag on the jaw while he tapped the cigarette in the ash tray. They had moved outside on the balcony, the city was dark if not for rare coloured lights.

“ _More tea_?” Teddy offered, speaking in German, and Lucien moved his cup closer to him to fill it. It was so nice to have his friend at his side, just like old times, when they shared an evening talking about books, weapons and having a warm tea.

“ _I missed this_.” Lucien smiled at him, keeping the language.

“ _What? Having your face punched or me serving you tea_?” He snorted.

“ _Maybe both._ ” And had a nice gulp.

“ _So. It’s been quite a long time. What are you doing here?_ ” He asked trying to hide a note of surprised incredulity.

Lucien shook his head and chuckled. “ _Believe it or not, I live here, you dork. I came here about a year after I left the battlefield._ ”

Ted leaned on the table, really surprised. “ _You mean you’ve been here all along? You’ve not been following William?_ ”

Lucien glared at him. “ _You see me as some kind of a creepy stalker? Are you out of your mind?! Why would I even do such a thing? Why did I leave with that note if I wanted to hunt him down?_ ”

Theodore raised his hands. “ _Ok, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to be tactless._ ”

The other man took a sip to clear his throat before angrily go back to him. “ _By the way, what are **you** doing here with the RED Heavy and Sniper?_ ”

“ _Well…I…_ ”

Lucien frowned at him for a long minute and suddenly something connected to an old memory. “ _Ohh. Don’t. Tell. Me. The old secret lover you had in war was…!_ ”

Ted nodded, defeated. “ _Ahah, yes, the RED Heavy weapon guy._ ”

Lucien took another sip, finishing the tea, his eyes never left the medic’s. “ _That, my dear friend, explains so many things you have no idea!_ ”He laughed and Teddy laughed along full lungs.

“ _It’s true, it’s true,_ ” he said in tears, “ _we kept it so secret nobody knew until the end of war. Willy has been the first to know._ ”

For few minutes they remained silent, just enjoying their company, until Theodore came out with a question.

“ _Tell me, how have you been here all these years?_ ”

Lucien took a long drag of his cig, finishing it, he puffed away the smoke and looked at him with sad eyes. “ _I admit I had ups and downs through the years, I had a really tormented period with my lover and we broke up in quite a violent way… It still burns today, but I can’t change the past. I started here as a member of a local orchestra, but soon I got bored and started a new life as a music teacher. It was quite a change and I loved it from the start. Today I have a little bunch of devoted children and adults coming to me to learn and I couldn’t be happier about my job. What about you?_ ”

Theodore was perplexed on how quickly he passed the baton, but didn’t want to push too much. “ _Uh… hm. Well, after the war, Nik and I simply retired and travelled around USA for about three years. We then decided to settle down, but couldn’t find the right place for a long time. It’s been because of my sister we moved here, she has a clinic downtown and I went working with her, while Nikolai enjoyed buying all the flats he liked._ ” He snorted. “ _Most of our money went to charity. I guess you know the feeling?_ ”

Lucien nodded. “ _I helped some school here and there too._ ” He chuckled remembering how much money his last job left in his accounts, but especially how many people deeply thanked the mysterious benefactor.

“ _Why haven’t you told him who you used to be?_ ”

The question had come out so sharply that Lucien almost choked himself on saliva. He turned to him with eyes full of anger, but Ted’s were so full of pity he couldn’t stand them. He slumped on his chair, sighing. “ _What good would it be? I don’t want to be remembered as the Blu Spy._ ”

Ted stood up. “ _Allow me to tell you he was very upset to not find you that evening. I’ll play along as long as you want me to, but please be careful, he’s been through quite a tragedy recently; try to not hurt him more._ ” Lucien looked up at him with a puzzled, tired look. “ _I go back to bed or Nik will find out I’m not there. We’ll have another chat, maybe tomorrow night?_ ”

Lucien stood up, yawning. “ _I’ll open the door as long as you don’t punch me in the face. I guess that if I want to know what happened to him I have to wait for him to tell me personally?_ ”

“ _Yes, you do. Goodnight, Lucien._ ” He warmly said.

“ _Sleep well, Teddy._ ”

-

The next morning wasn’t as bright as Lucien had imagined, but at least he could have a good laugh on the newspaper’s front page’s photo: four bandits, found by police tied up and with their faces all marked with scribbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I'm dead after this beast of a chapter. I go to sleep xD  
> I wish you all a nice time and enjoy ^^
> 
> I also want to welcome the new readers! Thanks so much for your kind words! :D


	11. Days go and problems come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FEAR THE POWER OF THE FLUTE! lol

From that evening, things were quite difficult for Lucien. He couldn’t hide his nervousness and whenever he saw the trio of ex-mercenaries he was pretty jumpy. Nik had always given him that feeling and probably it was something he'd never get through; with Theodore, he always felt under judgement, and both had to be careful with their words when in public; while with William… he wanted to hide every time the man watched him, but at the same time he wanted him to find him afterwards…he just felt so good in his company, but then he remembered what he was doing to him and wanted to run. He just couldn’t tell him the truth.

The next day, Sunday, Willy woke up in a very good mood, much to Ted’s surprise, and was way too excited to have another session with Lucien. Unfortunately for him, he had forgotten he had to spend the day with Theo and he was forced to leave a note under Lucien’s door, something he frankly enjoyed doing and he had taken it as a habit. Theodore took him to his office in the clinic and he flipped him over, checking every single inch of his person, analysing all he could, thoroughly, gladly noticing that his patient had gotten better. He still needed a lot to regain his full self, at least physically, he didn’t look as pale as he used to be weeks before, not as skinny, and had a nice glow about him. Yet, Theodore knew Willy was hiding his feelings, he knew he would have collapsed back again in his abyss of guilt and desperation if he had a chance, and Theodore wasn’t going to allow it.

Willy didn’t like those sessions much, and often got angry with Ted for being too invasive, but he appreciated his help and he admitted he needed it; for as it was, he just wanted to spend more time with Lucien. He liked that man and he wanted to know more about him. He somehow felt…welcomed by him, it was a sensation he pretty much craved.

His day was slow and he couldn’t get back home until after dinner. He discretely knocked at his door hoping he hadn’t gone to sleep already.

“Oh, Willy. Good evening.” The other man greeted him, smiling.

“Evenin’, Lu. I…I wanted to apologize for today, I w-“

Lucien stopped him with a hand. “No need, Willy,” he chuckled, “everyone can get busy.”

William snorted and nodded. “Still… When you’ll be free?” He shyly asked.

“Well eh… During the week I just have the evening free, after 5pm if you want to come over.”

Willy’s smile lit up. “Could we play tomorrow evening? I still need to see you playing the flute.”

“Aha, ok, ok, I don’t see why not.”

“Thank you! See you tomorrow, then. Night, Lu.” He patted his arm and quickly turned on his heels.

Yet, in that moment, an idea flashed in Lucien’s mind. And he regretted it so much… “Wait!” He bit his lip. “If you want it so much, I can play the flute now.”

Willy was halfway up the stairs, standing all bent backward in a weird show of balance. He was standing in front of him in a second. “Pretty please?”

Lucien blushed seeing how close he had suddenly gotten and quickly shifted back, letting him in. “Sit down and let the maestro have his fun.” _What am I doing? **What am I doing?!**_

Willy ungracefully flopped on the couch waking up Fantôme, who angrily meowed and took her revenge invading his lap and rolling up there, purring under his caresses.

Lucien got back holding his precious traverse flute and got into position with Willy’s eyes glued on him. “Any request?”

“Surprise me.” He grinned.

That little gest stunned Lucien. Seeing those sharp teeth, being such a teaser, reminded him of who Willy truly was, a predator impossible to outrun, a hawk with infallible aim, but still a man with respect for life, a merciful killer. Lucien snapped out of it quickly and picked a song.

The notes that came out from his flute flattened Willy like a train, once again Lucien’s prowess hypnotized him on all his senses and he simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His playing was smooth and fast, his fingers moved so perfectly timed and never missed a note. He was elegant and yet he emitted a powerful energy, showing his passion for his music. He started with a spirited solo from “My God” by Jethro Tull, to then quickly mix the notes of another song of the same band “Locomotive breath”. Willy knew their music, but Lucien’s was another story.

At the end of his play, Lucien saw how freaked out Willy was and had a good laugh. “Too hardcore for you, _mon ami_? Allow me.” And he recouped his performance choosing something softer, J.S. Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue d-Moll BWV 565”. Under those dark, powerful notes Willy simply melted and let the music overwhelm him, getting him drunk.

After a long time of playing, someone rang his bell. Lucien went to get the door and unsurprisingly he found both Theo and Big Nik. “Yes, he’s here.” He cheerfully said before they could even ask and let them in, finding Willy almost in trance on the couch.

He groaned at their sight. “Why you have always to ruin the best moments? Let him finish at least!”

The couple turned to Lucien noticing his flute.

“Oh! Do you mind if we stay?” Ted asked, sincerely curious.

“No, no, of course not. Ehm…Any request? Last one for tonight.” He chuckled.

Nikolai raised his big hand, very excited. “Peter and the wolf! Please.”

And with that, Lucien played his _grand finale,_ stunning all present with his clear notes.

 

That night Theodore found Lucien’s door open, just for him. The two old friends found themselves again in old habits, gossip and laughs.

“Next week we’ll leave Willy home alone,” Theo drew out a card, “keep an eye on him, will you? Call me if something happens.”

Lucien nodded solemnly and put the card in his breast pocket.

Theodore was truly amazed by Lucien’s performance and congratulated him sharing their usual hot tea.

“Nice hickey, by the way.” Lucien said, making Theo spatter his tea all over the balcony.

 

The week started normally for Lucien, he met his students in the morning and in the afternoon, avoiding annoying ladies, such as Miss Moore, the vulture on his shoulder constantly poking at his skull, and happily seeing progress in his young pupils. He was proud seeing them playing, learning from their mistakes and never giving up on hard pieces he assigned them.

On Monday he met Willy at Mama Rin’s, after work. He was simply passing by to see if Janel was doing ok –he was sure she didn’t need to be checked, she was a tough young lady, but he wanted to to see her in person- and he found Willy browsing among old disks.

They spent the late afternoon together under Mama Rin’s vigilant eye, until they left and William invited him over for dinner. Once again, Lucien couldn’t say no.

“You’re home alone, I see.” He pointed out as he took the first bite of the steak, letting out a soft moan about how delicious it was.

Willy snorted. “The babysitters left for a big work at Theo’s sister’s clinic. So, yeah, home all for me.”

Suddenly Lucien remembered something. “I have the contacts of the bands you might be interested into, but I left the paper downstairs.”

“Don’t worry, mate, you’ll give it to me tomorrow.”

“If you pass by my office at lunch-“

“We could have lunch together!” Willy jumped in, euphoric.

“Ehm…yes. Yes, we could.” Lucien shyly smiled and took another bite.

“How’s the steak?”

“Divine, _mon ami_.”

And the day ended with giving the address of Lucien’s office.

 

The next day, William was in the hall of the building waiting for Lucien to get downstairs at 12.30pm and he couldn’t be happier to see him. Lucien greeted him with the paper of the contacts in his hand and the two walked off to a pizzeria.

“Dinner at my place tonight?” Lucien offered and Willy joyfully accepted. “Ehy, what are y- That’s mine!” Lucien angrily, yet playfully slapped his arm as he stole a slice of his pizza. The lanky man took a huge bite and tried to not laugh at his angry friend.

As revenge, Lucien cooked pizza that night and stole one of Willy’s slices right under his nose.

 

Their evenings were peaceful and full of music, they even managed to finish the whole block they had started playing on the Saturday before; and each night they went to sleep rocked by the echo of their harmonic notes.

Everything went perfectly well, they shared their time at lunch and dinner, to then play some more together, until the night between Thursday and Friday, when Lucien got suddenly woken up by his insisting bell. He rushed to the door and when he opened it, his blood froze in his veins.

It was Willy, in a miserable state, with his eyes deeply sunken and his cheeks signed by heavy tears. “Lucien…” He rasped, his voice surprisingly firm. “Can I stay with you tonight…?”

Quickly and with great care, Lucien grabbed his arm and guided him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here some references from my research :)  
> [Jethro Tull flute solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zic2jFZ745w&hd=1)PS: no Spy is not that crazy lol  
> [Jethro Tull - Locomotive breath](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWubhw8SoBE&hd=1)  
> [J.S.Bach - Toccata and Fugue d-Moll BWV 565 Flute solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p0qo30LUfo&hd=1)  
> [Peter and the wolf - Theme of the bird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icRQbo4Asr0&hd=1)  
> I hope you'll like as much I did ^w^  
> \---  
> I have a small news for the ones who like Tentaspy :D  
> I recently decided to recover my old idea of the "Tentaspy's nest", since I saw it got a nice feedback, and I directly created a new Series called "Tenta twins". I'm feeling all fluffy about it and I loved writing that second chapter (despite I got called a freak already on fanfiction.net this morning, but lol I don't care, I know I'm a freak and proud of it) so I'm planning more chapters to come! Frankly, though, I don't know how often I'll write one of that series, this one is very impegnative D:  
> I hope you'll enjoy it if you happen to read it :)
> 
> Once again a big hug to all of you and thanks so much for your precious support!  
> 2Due
> 
> _______
> 
> EDIT: Once again, thanks [fawnish](http://archiveofourown.org/users/fawnish) for their precious help!


	12. A new door opens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's have a flood of tears together, guys

Moving quickly, Lucien guided him to the couch after locking the door behind and made him sit down. He was shocked to see him like that. The Sniper he knew was tough, imperturbable, sometimes he could be a bit silly, but he’s never looked so _broken_.

Lucien kneeled in front of him and took his face in his hands, checking if he had some scratch or anything else. “Willy," the other man’s eyes darted to his, “tell me, what is it? What I can do for you?” He asked in a worried whisper.

Suddenly, two long, strong arms wrapped around his torso and pulled him in a tight embrace, almost squeezing the air out of his lungs. Willy hid his face in Lucien’s neck and stood absolutely still, with his hands closed in tight firsts, pulling Lucien’s shirt. Lucien gulped hard, slightly trembling from the shock, but soon he melted from the tension and hugged him as well, welcoming him with a rub on his back.

Both of them stood still in that tight hug for few long minutes until Willy’s arms finally relaxed into a gentle embrace and he slipped back from Lucien’s grip. His eyes were low and dark.

“I’m sorry…I just couldn’t stand to…to be alone tonight.” He deeply sighed and looked up as Lucien cheerfully patted his cheek. It was a soft caring touch and, deeply within, Willy craved for more.

Lucien was still before him, with a gentle smile and his deep grey eyes staring at him, he seemed in trance for a moment, but he immediately looked away as Willy squinted at him. There was something in those eyes that intrigued the lanky man, something familiar… He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination or the dark around them…

“No need to apologize. Now be good for a moment and wait.” Lucien pushed him down to make him rest on the couch and quickly got up and disappeared in the other room to come out few seconds later holding a blanket and a pillow. He made sure Willy was comfortable, he made him lay down and cocooned him for good, especially his bare feet. “Don’t go away.” He said before moving to the kitchen to prepare some herbal tea.

Willy couldn’t find a word to tell him, he could just watch. On the other hand Lucien had a storm of words in his mind, yet he couldn’t say them aloud, so he tried to focus on the task, but suddenly his grip on the cup slipped and it almost crashed on the ground.

The Aussie sat up when he got offered the hot drink and took a good gulp, almost careless of how hot it was. He sighed relieved and tried to speak, but his embarrassment stopped him again. The blondie patted his bent knee and grabbed a cushion, tossed in on the ground, in the corner of the L-shaped couch and placed his skinny butt on it, leaning back on the seat.

“Get some rest,” he gently offered, “I’m here if you want to talk.”

Willy placed the empty cup on the coffee table and lied down, watching at the other man at his feet. “You’ll sleep…there?”

Lucien chuckled. “Don’t you worry about me, I’ve slept in worse places.”

A weak smile appeared on Willy’s face and he relaxed, glad to have a friend close. “When’s breakfast?” He teased.

“Soon enough.” He joked and yawned.

“Lu…thank you.”

“Shush. Go to sleep already, I won’t fall asleep until I hear you snore.”

 

Too bad Willy couldn’t get any more sleep, he had closed his eyes, but slumber was far from him, while Lucien started softly snoring in few minutes time. For some reason, Willy felt a lot better in his presence, something in that blonde man made him feel at home, he had something familiar, but Willy had no clue what.

He has been looking at him for few minutes, his sight got quickly used to the darkness and he could clearly see his features. He had to admit…the blondie was cute. He has always been so nice to him, so welcoming, so patient, it was hard to believe. He…he wanted to know more about him! He suddenly felt an eagerness he had forgot in time, finally something was pushing him toward a new future, a _possible_ new future.

Moving silently, Willy got closer to his friend and there, he realized how beautiful Lucien was to his sight. He looked so relaxed in his sleep and Willy couldn’t detach his eyes from his features. Even the smallest of details caught his attention and he tried to focus in the dark to memorize them all; thin wrinkles, growing stubble, his high cheekbones, a pale insignificant scar on the pointy end of his nose, an earring hole on his right ear… Willy stopped himself and sharply stepped back to reality. He didn’t know much about Lucien… Has he been always alone? Has he ever had a lover before? Where did he study? Has he always been a music teacher? At this last question he could only guess and he imagined they were probably coetaneous. Still, he really couldn’t figure Lucien’s sexuality out and he really wanted to avoid another awkward situation; he’s been very embarrassed in the past.

He collected the pillow, which stood next to his feet, and brought it to the other side of the couch to lie down and try to catch some sleep. _He’s gorgeous…_ He shook his head, groaning. He had a lot to work out before even thinking to ask him out. He’d start in the morning.

 

There was a soft clanging coming from the corner of the kitchen and, opening one eye, Willy saw Lucien at the countertop, giving him the back and working on something. There was a delicious smell in the room and William could feel his stomach growling. Lucien placed something in a pan and it started immediately sizzling. Bacon and eggs. Now Willy was famished and was ready to get up, when Lucien did something unusual, gluing him on the spot: the blondie was handling a knife with incredible dexterity, making it rotating around his fingers until he had it in the right angle to blindly throw it at his left, perfectly striking the loaf of bread there. Willy blinked hard, incredulous. He stayed still and faked to be asleep as Lucien turned around.

Lucien got dishes ready and forked a piece of bacon before moving toward Willy. Something told him he was awake, he smirked and crouched, waving the bacon in front of Willy’s nose.

“This way of waking people up of yours is pure torture.” Willy said, opening just one eye.

“If you don’t want it,” He stopped as Willy quickly took the bite. “Ah, come on, get up, there’s more waiting for you. I hope you’re hungry.”

“Starving.” Willy said, completely forgetting the knife trick he witnessed.

The table was set for two, there was an egg surrounded by bacon cubes in a dish and 4 folded crepes with different marmalades within in another, and fresh orange juice. Willy didn’t know where to start.

Lucien sat down with a coffee in his hand and picked a crepe up. “Did you get some sleep? Was it ok?” He asked, consciously avoiding bringing up the fact that he woke up seeing his face close to his.

Willy nodded, feeling a bit lost. “Thanks again, Lu.” And he started devouring his breakfast.

They remained in silence for long minutes, even when William finished. Lucien had insisted to leave the dishes to him while Willy went to the bathroom.

“Lucien,” William fumbled as he walked closer to the couch. “I want to face my problem, but….I…I need…”

The pianist rushed to him as he started trembling and helped him sit down. “Easy, easy. Don’t rush it, whatever it is, take your time to spit it out.”

Tense as a violin’s string, with fists tightly clenched and eyes to the floor, Willy couldn’t find a way to start. Was he really going to finally break the wall down? Was it going to be Lucien the first to listening to him? He turned to face him and his panting quickly slowed down to a calm breathing. He was tired of that situation, of the frustration, of the nightmares he kept having, the crisis…he wanted his life back, he had to accept the past and let it go, and Lucien gave him the feeling to be the right person to open to. He proudly sat up straight, took a deep breath and, despite few false starts, he finally broke the silence and started telling his story without interruptions, while Lucien waited and listened carefully.

“I had my family in the Outback, my mother, my father, and my brother with his wife and their daughter; happy, simple people. It was about two months ago when my lover and me decided to visit after a long time and…hell came down on us.

There was a guy, a mad man, a _maniac psycho_ who has been _following_ me for a long time, a creeper, a fucking stalker who was _obsessed_ with me with all his being. We’ve been colleagues for years and he’s never shown any peculiarity toward me, we were almost friends. Since the day I quit, he acted in a weird way, as if I somehow betrayed him, he got furious at me for some reason and he disappeared. Once I got home and started a new life, he somehow found me and started calling, following me wherever I went to, creeping around my friends calling them and scaring them to death with threats… It was no use finding new protections or moving to the other side of the world, he was always behind my back. I even asked old friends for new ways to keep him out of my friends’ and my life. We managed to send him to jail after a long hunt, but he was out in a couple of months. I knew he was going to come to me and one evening he was outside my door, but I was ready and shot him in the chest. Told him that I would have killed him if he dared to show up again in my life.”

Willy took a long break, his face hidden in his palms. Lucien listened in a dead silence and dared to place a hand on his friend’s knee. He felt him slightly relax.

“I should have killed him on the spot.” He leaned forward on his elbows, his breathing trembling. “Two months ago we had a family reunion, we were ready to finally have some happy time together, when out of nowhere….out of fucking nowhere, _he appeared on the door of the kitchen._ We never found out from where he came in, nor how, nor when, but he had a detonator in his hand and a crazy smile on his face. My father and I were immediately aiming at him with guns and he started babbling about treachery and stuff I didn’t care about. I simply shot him, this time for good, but….I was blinded from my own anger and repulsion for that man that I didn’t think he might have done something else than just showing up. The detonator was a fake, but this wrist clock was a timer.

I tried to get everybody out in time…”

Willy collapsed, growling enraged and frustrated, but after few minutes of silence, he felt different, he didn’t feel the heavy knot in his throat anymore, but the need of tears was still strong.

He turned to see Lucien still, shocked and with tears silently signing his cheeks as well, and Willy offered him a weak smile before pulling him in a tight embrace of compassion, but it was Lucien who was hugging tighter. Although the situation and the bringing out such sad memories, Willy offered himself a little smile, he felt better than he imagined, he still had a lot to work out, but this first step felt amazing.

The only detail he didn’t say was that the stalker had been the Blu Sniper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody!  
> Finally we have ch.12 update yay! Frankly, it's been a pain in many ways and it's been pretty hard for me to write it down. Right now it's 2am for me and tomorrow I have class all day, the joy...  
> I know I've been quite late and I got many people supporting and understanding and I wanted to thank them all for the kind words, on the other side I also received something that, I don't know if it was meant the way I got it, but it bothered me because it showed that someone is not capable of understanding that artists have a social life, have responsibilities and have priorities, and often they have to choose between life and hobbies, ending being late with updates for different reasons. I am writing and drawing because it's what makes me feel good and escape from my everyday routine, it takes time, patience, practice and often hours of deprived sleep, and not to mention inspiration and the right mood. I post it online to see if I can find people who like it as much I do and seeing such a positive feedback pushes me to do more and improve, but nobody can tell me when I have to post, I chose to try a chapter a week because I thought I was capable of, but things can change and make me trip on bigger things and I need to sacrifice something. I always update my current status because I don't want people to feel abandoned, but I might need more time for a last work.  
> End of the vent, I have some news on the same topic.  
> My school's projects has been pressed in this last month and I need time to animate and sculpt, I'll be a zombie until the end of June and really can't promise any weekly update. I might be able to write something short, but I won't promise that either.
> 
> I'LL BE BACK JUNE, 28TH OR JULY, 1ST WITH NEW CHAPTERS OF ALL MY FANFICTIONS.
> 
> For now, I hope you enjoy, feel free to come and say hi on tumblr and I wish you all a great time :) *faints in bed*


	13. Knowing you better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All aboard on the trust train :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii everyone! It's so good to be back!  
> First thing, I wanted to thank you all, guys, I never felt so appreciated and your kind words truly cheered me up while drowning in a hell of a period. Now that that period is over, I'm finally relaxing and I want to give you guys the best I can write and soon draw ^w^  
> Enjoy this new chapter and allow me to give a little spoiler that soon things are going to be juicy :D *cough NSFW cough*  
> *Big hugs*

Those strong arms around him made him feel protected and welcomed for once, it was hard for Lucien to move away. He detached more sharply than he intended to, leaving Willy a bit concerned. He quickly tried to find an excuse and dried his tears up with the back of his hand. A soft giggle made him look at the other man.

“Trying to recover your manliness?” He said, brushing his own tears away.

Lucien snorted and grabbed the box of tissues nearby, offering him too. “Willy…I’m _so_ sorry.”

The Aussie looked down and let out a heavy sigh, he shook his head and looked back up at him. He half smiled and leaned his hand on his shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze, nodding. He stood up and went for the bathroom to fix himself up.

“Come with me for a walk?” Willy’s face peeped from behind the door frame after a while, clean and looking slightly better, while Lucien was still a mess and surrounded by used tissues.

Lucien promptly stood up, hiding the tissues behind his back. “Now?!”

Willy took a step forward and elegantly showed his appearance still wearing PJs. “Meet me downstairs in 15 minutes?” He grinned.

Lucien looked surprised for a second and laughed at him. “Haha, you win.” He went to open the door for him. “15 minutes. Don’t be late.”

Willy winked at him.

 

“Do you know what?”

William simply muffled a mess “Hm?” as he took another bite of his ice cream.

“I love mornings like this one, sunny and slightly windy. Makes me forget about everything.”

Willy focused on him, running his eyes on his sharp features. “Is something bothering you?” He asked concerned.

 _You. In a way..._ “Not really, I’m just really distracted lately, I cannot see my future as clear as I used to see short ago.”

“Hm.” He paused. “Don’t you have anyone to talk to?” He bit his ice cream again, his eyes alert from under his hat.

Lucien looked ready with an answer, but he soon realized the truth. “No, I don’t.”

“Not even Mama Rin?”

Lucien brought his spoon with ice cream to the mouth and snorted. “Unfortunately no. It’s…something I prefer to keep as private as possible.”

Willy suddenly seemed worried and turned around the corner, guiding Lucien away from the crowded main street. The blondie didn’t protest and followed him, actually glad about the choice. Once in an almost desert street, Willy dared few words. “I’m a good listener.”

Lucien’s eyes darted at him and gulped. _Nice move, you idiot._ Still… Willy had trusted him earlier, now it was his turn to show he trusted him. He chomped another spoonful of ice cream feeling regret climbing his back. _Aw, fuck it._ “The thing is…I kind of start feeling…you know… lonely.”

Willy arched his brow, grinning, feeling quite intrigued by the topic. It was a chance to know him better he wasn’t going to miss. “A nice fella like you can’t find the woman of his life? I don’t believe you.” He gave him a playful pat on his back, but seeing no reaction, he frowned. He leaned closer, but before he could say a word, Lucien cut him off.

“Gender is not something that matters for me.” His eyes never left the ice cream.

William’s curiosity grew exponentially. “You bisexual, mate?”

Lucien shook his head. “Pansexual.”

Willy nodded and finished his cone in one last bite. “I see, I see.” He sounded pretty cheerful and he pocketed his hands. “And you still haven’t found someone?”

Lucien’s fingers drummed on the cup nervously. “Well, I had someone short time ago actually…” He suddenly looked at him. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

Willy smiled and shrugged. “Should it?”

“Well… Still today some people don’t like this kind of thin-“ A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Willy chuckled. “Nik and Theo are a couple. Weird you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh. Eh, I had a little suspect actually.” Lucien wanted to sink and hide underground because of his own stupidity, of course he knew about Theo and Nik already and it was obvious that Willy had no problems with it.

“You said you had someone?” Willy innocently asked.

_Sigh…I knew he was going to ask it._

Seeing him flitch, Willy retreated. “Did I touch a nerve? Sorry, I didn’t m-“

“No, no, it’s ok. It’s quite a surpassed thing, don’t you worry.” Despite the smile, Willy could clearly see sadness in Lucien’s eyes. “We had been together for years and unfortunately, because of me, it ended in a pretty bad way. I had kind of lost myself and didn’t treat her as he deserved. I don’t blame her, I’d have done the same.” He could see sorrow and confusion on the friend’s face, and sadly chuckled. “Sorry, old habits never change. She was born male and managed to have her operation after we broke up. It was something we had programmed already and, despite his many protesting, I paid for the surgery. It was the least I could do, but after that I never heard from her again. I know she changed name from the doctors, but nothing more.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s thankful for it though, and will never forget what you gave her.” Willy offered.

Lucien nodded smiling. “I just hope that wherever she is now, she’s happy. I still wish I had the chance to tell her how sorry I am though…”

Willy patted his shoulder.

 

“Ehy mama, look who’s coming.” Janel pointed at the front door with her chin while petting Simon.

Mama Rin abandoned her doing under the counter and appeared to see the incomers. She suddenly looked overjoyed to see her favourite boys walking it. “Darlings! Please do in!” She bouncily ran to them, kissing each’s cheeks. “What can I do for you?” A plate of still hot cookies –which attended on the counter- magically appeared in her hand and Willy was munching one pronto.

“Just wanted to browse around, Mama.” Lucien answered. Mama Rin quickly stuffed a cookie in his mouth and let them do their things in her shop.

Janel placed the cat down ignoring his opposing meows and got closer to her, whispering in her ear. “Hmm, there’s something different in the air, isn’t it, mama?”

Mama Rin was smirking already. “Oh, you noticed too?” She answered keeping her voice low.

“They look quite close lately.” Janel smirked back.

“One maxi size tray of cookies if they end up together.”

Janel frowned. “You think they’re the kind?”

Mama Rin shrugged. “I’m not sure, but you can’t deny they look cute together.”

Janel solemnly nodded. “Agreed, but if you lose, you’ll go through diet.”

Standing up straight offended, Mama Rin protested. “Are you insane, girl? I’m perfect the way I am.” She made few poses, proudly smoothing her curves. Janel shook her head and giggled.

Willy cleared his voice a bit embarrassed. “Ehm, Mama? Don’t you have anything about Australian jazz?”

“Hmmm, searching for an artist in particular, darling?”

"Alex Hutchinson? Don Burrows? Bob Bertles?”

Mama Rin looked like a statue for few long seconds and shook her head. “Sorry, darling, I have nothing of them.”

“Is there a way to retrieve something?”

“I can try, sweetcheeks.” She winked at him making him blush, and her eyes caught Lucien standing nearby staring at him. “You ok, Lu, dear?” She grinned.

He coughed, caught off guard. “Oh, yes, yes, just thinking.”

“Oh, before I forget it!” She ran off disappearing in the back of the store, coming back holding a small postal package. “It arrived right this morning!”

He grabbed it eagerly and read where it was sent from. “Nepal? Your brother never ceases to amaze me. Thanks so much.”

“He said he’ll send more as soon as he’ll find new ones.” She shook her head. “You two and your weird collection.”

“What is it?” Willy seemed as eager as Lucien about the pack.

Lucien snorted. “Will show you at home. Would be dangerous to go around with something like this in public.” He bent down to kiss her goodbye, followed by Willy, when turned to her again asking her to do her best to retrieve those disks for Willy and to not mind the cost. The Aussie was already at the door and Lucien followed him out.

Mama Rin looked a bit confused when she found a whole block of banknotes in the front pocket of her dress.

 

“So what is it?”

“Stop jumping around, you nosey parker!” Lucien laughed and finally sat down at his table to open the package. There was so much padding he actually had to dig into it. In the end he was holding a long thin object, carefully wrapped up in a protective layer. Willy excitedly watched as Lucien dexterously cut it open, and both gasped at the sight of a big black knife sheath. Lucien carefully pulled the blade out. “It’s a-“

“A _khukuri_!”

Lucien nodded, enchanted by the quality of the finish and by the wonderful ornamental details. He handled it with ease feeling the weight and the balance. It was a beauty. “You know this kind of blades?” _Of course he does…._

“I used to have one years ago, a big one, to hunt in the Outback. This one looks so damn fine. Nepal, you said? Do you collect things from there?”

Lucien grinned and replaced the ceremonial knife delicately back into its sheath. “I actually collect knives. Rin’s brother likes to send me gifts from his journeys. This is the third one he sends. Come I’ll show you.”

Willy blinked astonished and followed him to his bedroom. “You collect _knives_?!” That explained his ability with the kitchen from that morning.

The blondie walked to his wardrobe and opened the right side, showing an elegant collection of about 40 blades, counting daggers and small swords, each perfectly kept and categorized with etiquettes saying name, origin and year. Lucien looked so proud. “I’ll settle it among them later, now I’m starving and it’s almost noon.” He closed the door.

“Mate, you need to present me to all those beauties in there one day.” Once again, he looked like a child in a candy store.

“What about this evening after class?”

“Oh right, you had class! Did you have it this morning too?” Willy looked worried about it.

“No, no, we got lucky today, I just have the afternoon.”

Relieved, Willy smiled. “Come and have lunch with me? I cook.”

“Do I have to pray for my stomach again?” Lucien snorted and the other man gently swatted his arm. “Give me five minutes and I’ll reach you.”

Willy nodded and took the first step to go, but he turned and frowned for a second. “Lu, may I ask you a favour?” Seeing he was listening, he went on. “May we keep what happened last night as an our little secret? I don’t want Theo and Nik to worry too much about me.”

Knowing he was going to regret it anyway, Lucien nodded.

“Thanks! Don’t be late.” And with that, Willy was out the flat heading upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of few things happening lately in my house, like a black out and change of internet service, caused me to be a bit late...aaaaaaaaannnnnd to be frank, I took too much liberty in my researches for historical accuracy....  
> Allow me to share few things I found for the set of this story, but I won't give too much details because I want to keep it as obscure as possible, still giving hints :) *evil laugh*  
> The story is set in the State of Illinois, not far from Chicago.
> 
> Seeing the story is not set in our present day, I lost myself in an interesting research about LGBT rights history in the USA, and here is where I took all the notions for setting the minds of the characters.  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_laws_in_the_United_States  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_States  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois#20th_century  
> I hope you find it as interesting as I did :3
> 
> Here some more references I found for Australian jazz (will talk more about it and deeply in the next chapters)  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Hutchinson  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Bertles  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Burrows
> 
> And here for the Khukuri knife  
> http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/9503/10407216_1.jpg?v=8CDB78F8952F6B0  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri


	14. Risks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made myself cry in the end... *blows nose*
> 
> Next chapter is a big one! I can't wait to write it down :D

Focusing was quite hard for Lucien that afternoon. More than once his young students called him back to Earth in concern and the only thing Lucien could say was that he was just thinking too hard on what he wanted them to play next. He indeed thought too much, frankly speaking, but the subject was something else. He had taken a huge risk that morning, opening like that to Willy, but what else could he do? That chatty guy was going to ruin him.

Grumpily, he walked home knowing he was waiting for him, eager to see his collection. He groaned in exasperation capturing some other pedestrian’s concern. He ignored them and sped up his walking.

 

The answering machine’s light was blinking when he got home.

“ _What the hell is wrong with you? You better call me as you get your skinny ass at home!_ ” Mama Rin’s voice boomed as he pressed the bottom. The message was left short after William and he had left her shop.

He rolled his eyes, sat down and called her back. He knew already the topic. “Ehy, Mama. I got your message.”

_“Lu, dear, what was the meaning of that?”_ She didn’t sound angry at him, mostly worried and uncredulous.

“I just asked you to get those albums for Willy, Ma.” He rubbed his eyes with his index and thumb.

_“Don’t you play dumb with me, young man! You gave me an enormous amount of money!”_

2500 dollars weren’t that much, he thought. “Mama, please, just get those disks and keep the rest.” He smirked, a bit amused.

“ _You gotta be kidding me, lad!”_

“Come on, Mama, consider it a little thought. I got to go, Mama, love you and thanks!” He hung up leaving her in a more confused state. That call reminded him he needed to go to the bank again.

The bell rang and he happily detached from the phone.

“Good evening, mate! I hope you like pizza.” Willy showed up holding a couple of boxes and few beers.

Lucien blinked surprised and shook his head sighing. _This man…._ “Come on in, you.”

“So, how was your day?” He asked the lanky man as he placed the boxes on the table.

“A bit boring actually. Yours?”

“The usual day of work. My students are fast learners and today they showed me good results.”

“With a teacher like you there won’t be bad students.” He winked at him and opened a box. “I didn’t know which one you liked so I took some…sample…”

There were 8 slices forming a whole pizza and each had a different topping. Same thing for the other pizza, with more toppings.

Lucien couldn’t not laugh at it, it was too cute and funny. “A simple _Margherita_ was more than enough!”

William started laughing as well, maybe he had indeed got too many kinds.

 

With all those knives in display in front of him, Willy really looked like an enchanted child. He started reading all the names and noted it out if he recognized some. To much Lucien’s surprise, he knew almost all of them. With permission, he took one he never saw, handling it as a precious jewel, and sat on the ground, crossing his legs and closely examining it, turning it this and that side.

Lucien found himself into staring at him. Intensely. He had never noticed how well that low short pony tail suited Willy, his curvy auburn hair had such reflections it was hard to resist to, and Lucien was unconsciously moving closer with a hand stretched out.

Catching movement with the corner of the eye, Willy turned around quickly finding Lucien few inches from him. “Uh, yes?” He blinked surprised.

“Apologies, my friend, but you happen to have a drop of tomato sauce in your hair.” He quickly lied after half second of shocked stillness. He pretended to wipe it off and got up with the excuse to wash his hand.

In front of the mirror in the bathroom, Lucien wanted to just scream with all his lungs and had to constrain himself placing his hands on his temples and taking deep, difficult breaths. _You can’t have him! YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM! STOP IT! STOP FOOLING YOURSELF!_ The exasperation in his thought pushed him to grit his teeth and sit down on the bathtub wooden board. So many confined thoughts suddenly ran over him, he felt he wasn’t going to last long, he knew he was going to do something really, really stupid…

“Lucien, are you alright?” Willy knocked on the door.

He didn’t know how long he had been in the bathroom, probably too long. “Yes, yes, I’ll be out in a minute.”   He washed his face, shook his head hoping to clear his mind and failed. He needed time alone.

Willy was back to the spot in front of the knife collection, but jumped up seeing his friend’s pale face. “You don’t look ok, mate. Is your stomach upset? Want me to prepare you hot lemonade?”

Without even following him, Lucien nodded and let him use the kitchen while he sat down on the couch.

“Maybe that pizza was too much.” He offered an apologetic smile while giving him the lemonade.

“Don’t worry.” He took a good gulp and immediately made a face, not expecting it to be so sour. “Gaahh, damn it, it’s strong!”

“Sorry.” Willy said chuckling. “Take your time for it.”

“It’ll digest my stomach alone.” He grumbled.

“Shush and drink up.”

Lemonade gone and a healthy series of little burps, Willy was satisfied to see his patient gaining his colour back on his cheeks. “Ok, mate, it’s late and it’s better if you go to sleep. I’ll leave you in peace. Tomorrow Theo and Nik will be back, I still need to fix a lot of things. Feeling better?”

Lucien brought his fist to his mouth as he elegantly stopped the last burp. “I could digest an elephant with that thing you gave me.”

Willy laughed and stood up giving a nice pat on the shoulder. “Thanks for today, Lu. Call me if you need anything, you know where to get me.”

The touch made many alarms ring in his mind, so many Lucien quickly stood up to avoid more awkwardness. “Same thing to you. Yell or scream if you need.”

Willy playfully punched him in the arm and headed to the door. “Night, Lu.”

“Night, Willy.” Once locked the door, Lucien rushed to the bathroom, closed the door behind himself and the only noise after was a glass being violently shattered.

 

Alone in his room, under a blue tiny light, Willy laid in his bed, leaning on a pile of pillows and with his knees raised. He was holding a picture in his hands and he was sadly staring at it. There were two people on it, two men, happily and goofily smiling at the camera, while the background showed a distant and familiar red sand desert. The man on the left was William himself, holding the camera in front of them while hugging the other guy with his free arm. The fascinating red head man on the right was…

“Joshua, what should I do?” Willy whispered after a long time.

It was the first time he had taken any picture out after the bomb accident and… memories were still so vivid in his mind it took him an hour to finally have the strength to look at the man’s face. The last time he had seen him was in the hospital, in a piteous state and quickly fading… His last words have been indelibly instilled in his being.

“ _Go on and be happy in your life…don’t let anything ruin you…I love you…”_

He had known he wasn’t going to make it and after those words, his hand became cold against William’s cheek and had fallen on the bed.

Willy stared at the man in the photo half-expecting an answer, but obviously no one came. He had already taken a huge step forward and he was strongly thinking to finally break out and start a new life. Joshua was his guide and now he was alone, but he wasn’t lost anymore. He had found something new and old at the same time, he had found the willing to keep going head up. He was going to destroy all the obstacles from then on. In Lucien he had seen something worth the risk, a deep trust and a wonderful friendship. Joshua would have wanted to see him strong and he was going to be for him and for himself.

He kissed the image and kept it close. “I miss you, but I thank you. Goodbye, love.” He gently placed it on the night table, in front of the clock to keep it up, turned off the light and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again being late yay! I apologize for last week's update x-x Couldn't make it..... I've been redoing my portfolio and my CV, and I contacted few videogame warehouses for character designer cx let's hope!
> 
> I'm curious, what games do you usually play? Any pokemon lover? A shiny hunter/huntress out there? owo I'd love trading and chatting about it!
> 
> And with this I go to sleep :D


	15. Point of no return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, but I'm not sorry for being late this time :D  
> Haha, enjoy :3

 

Stupid thing n. 1: Punched the mirror so hard it broke into thousands of pieces and badly hurt your hand.

Shards removed, wounds cleaned and disinfected the evening before, it was time to change the bandage and Lucien groaned angrily as he removed the old one. A nice dark bruise started to spread over his knuckles, but at least the ice he kept on his right hand kept the swelling down. Ugh, what a night…

Newly patched up, Lucien tried his fingers. It hurt, but he could play the piano easily anyway. There was need for a new mirror and luckily a friend of his could fix that right up.

After the call, he heard familiar voices from the open door-window and, taken by curiosity, he went to check at the balcony. It was Theodore and Nik, they appeared to move few boxes out their car and they were discussing about few tools they happened to forget. The way the medic was arguing made his chuckle in nostalgia. He was petulant and slightly passive aggressive, but Nikolai had none of it, he rolled his eyes and kept on with the boxes, heading upstairs. Lucien chuckled at the thought that they were like a married couple.

Wait…they were coming upstairs, William would surely go downstairs to help them and then he’d be at his door! No, no, no, he didn’t want to see him that morning, not in his conditions… He needed more time alone to calm down.

His eyes rushed left and right searching for anything that could give him an idea, and when he eyed a piece of paper, he deeply sighed.

 

Willy happily trotted downstairs after having helped the guys moving stuff and he finally could go to Lucien’s door. Yet, a note on it stopped him before he could raise his hand to knock. He hadn’t noticed it before.

                      _I’ll be out until after lunch._

_Lucien_

Sadness took over Willy in moment. “Oh…” And he left.

 

A tight grip took over Lucien’s heart as he saw that happy face of Willy’s saddening so suddenly. He knew it disappointed him, but Lucien couldn’t afford to let himself go, he wasn’t planning to do more stupid things. He moved away from the peephole of the door and heavily sat on the chair nearby, just to get greeted by Fantôme with a loud meow. She jumped on his knees and started massaging his tummy with her paws, purring aloud. He let her despite her claws made him wince.

Few minutes passed and a little paper slipped under his door. He sighed and waited few seconds before picking it up.               

                      _I’ll come at 3pm with sax and new scores to try. Get your piano ready!_

_Willy_

Lucien groaned and flopped back on the chair with Fantôme still on his lap protesting for being interrupted in her massaging business. He scratched her head and she started purring even louder and went to cuddle under his chin, snuggling furiously. “Do you mind, _petit_?”

“ _Mrrwah_!” She said.

 

As hours went by, Lucien locked himself indoors and tried with all his might to regain his dignity and push old thoughts and fantasies away, but the more he tried, the more William invaded his mind. He kept looking at the clock, each time afraid to see the hands hitting the time Willy would arrive. He couldn’t relax, he barely ate his lunch and he couldn’t even play a score in peace. The tension was eating him.

Soon the bell rang and he jumped out of his skin. He frenetically looked around to see if everything was in place and checked himself up. He smoothed his clothes just enough to be presentable without scars in sight, and with his heart in his throat, he opened the door and a bright smile appeared in front of him.

“Hi, mate, ready to play?”

Lucien nodded and let him in, doing his best to not look odd, but that didn’t work… Willy turned to face him in concern.

“Are you alright?” He asked, then he noticed his hand and he looked alarmed. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, just a scratch.” Lucien realized he was sweating more than usual and he didn’t like it one bit.

Willy looked sceptical. “You sure?”

Well, it wasn’t a lie after all and Lucien nodded. “Come on, show me what you got there.” He pointed at the papers the friend had under his arm.

The lanky man gave them to him and saw him flipping them quickly. He noticed he was nervous, but his smile looked sincere as he read the titles. That soothed him a bit, but he still remained alert. “Lu, if you don’t feel like playing I understand.”

“You kidding?! Get your sax out and take position, these pieces are marvellous!” He was honest on that, those were all scores of famous songs of jazz, swing and old school rock. He really couldn’t wait to try them and he thought that maybe he could distract himself despite Willy’s presence. He hoped…

Letting it go, Willy smiled at him, “Fine,” and got ready to start playing. “You pick the first.” And so Lucien chose _Sing, sing, sing._

 

Their afternoon went on smoothly, slowly moving into evening, hours passed filled with laughs, joyful mistakes in reading the scores and everything seemed to go on just fine. Willy looked incredibly pleased to see his friend relaxing and feeling at ease, and being there with him made him feel so good.

Yet, the truth was another thing. Despite that mask of laughs and comfort, Lucien felt like a chained starving beast and the links were slowing giving up… The effect of those last hours gave him was the one he feared the most and he knew he couldn’t hold back anymore.

Willy was saying something, but he didn’t get much of it, something about changing a piece of his saxophone, he couldn’t tell, he was too focused observing him. He was hypnotised by every single move he was doing, by his grace and care in handling his instrument… Without realizing Lucien was on his feet and Willy looked at him a bit confused.

_Forgive me, Willy._ He shook his head without looking away from him and made few fast steps toward him, quickly placed his hand behind his neck and pulled him down to meet his lips.

He pressed himself against him, pushing him against the wall and the sax slipped off Willy’s hand clanging on the floor. Lucien kissed his lips gently, lingering for just a moment too much, his mind completely blank… That was it, he ruined everything just like he used to do in his life…he was ready to leave, but when he opened his eyes he saw what he would have never thought possible.

Willy quickly responded to him wrapping an arm behind his back, holding him really tightly and pulling him back, kissing him.

Now Lucien’s mind was truly blank. He closed his eyes and let himself go, kissing him back, caressing him, holding him, allowing William to do anything he wished to do with him. His fingers clawed at that silly low ponytail, his other hand ashamedly climbed over his torso and chest until it found the collar, finding a nice grasp to pull. He had dreamed for those lips for ages, he had imagined them sweet, tender and at the same time dangerous, yet, he wasn’t prepared for the reality. It was _much_ better.

Willy kissed him and kissed him and kissed him again, not wanting to let go, he was panting and his heart was frantically racing in his chest. His hand sunk in his blonde hair, eagerly yet gently pulling him back each time they changed angle, and the one on Lucien’s back pressed with curious fingertips tasting every single bone and muscle under his skin.

Slowly, they broke apart, still stealing little pecks from one another, panting and with their eyes closed. Lucien felt a soft thumb caressing over his right cheek and he leaned on it, kissing the palm of the hand. The slender fingers slid under his chin and pulled him up, making their drowsy eyes lock. Both men were blushing furiously and they shared a goofy smile. There Lucien forgot everything, forcedly closed out everything that wasn’t about them, he didn’t care anymore, and he didn’t want anything else if not Willy. And Willy looked…reborn.

In a mere split of a second, they were all over each other again, with more passion and urge, one craving for the other. Hands gripped on shirts, opening buttons and sending one or two flying, especially Willy’s, while lips smoothly opened apart deepening their kiss. Lucien’s arm rushed at the other’s neck, his fingers clawing behind the shoulder, making the lanky man moan, while his other hand returned to Willy’s chest, pressing and tasting his delicious anatomy under the fabric of the opened shirt. At that, Willy giggled being tickled and pulled the blondie even closer.

Lucien was blinded by his touch, he moaned and moved his head backward exposing his willowy neck, and William immediately took the chance and kissed and nibbled at the new offered spot, causing Lucien to press his hips against his own. Both of them blushed more as they felt each other’s hardening bulge.

With some effort, Lucien’s hand retreated from his hair and quickly moved downward, tightly cupping Willy’s butt cheek and lifting his leg up against his hip, which Willy gladly helped with, chuckling, and they kissed again.

“Willy…” Lucien panted in his ear as his companion kissed his cheek.

“Lucien, I…” Willy started, but the blondie cut him off grabbing with both hands behind his head, letting the raised leg heavily fall, and kissed him hard once again. “You are so…sweet, Lucien…ahh…” He managed to whisper in between kisses. Both his hands suddenly travelled down Lucien’s back, making him shiver, until they found the brim of his pants and tucked in, giving his butt a hard squeeze.

“ _…Sniper!_ ”

Both of them sharply froze. Lucien looked up at Willy in pure terror, his hands slid down from his cheeks to his chest as the other man’s penetrating eyes stared down at him in disbelief.

Big hands moved away from Lucien’s bottom and held him tightly on his hips, while green scared eyes darted from one eye of his to the other.

“What…?” Willy whispered.

“Willy, I ca-“

The Aussie’s hands quickly grabbed his wrist and moved up his sleeve revealing ancient, but still very visible knife scars, same on his collar bone and the other arm. He shook his head in shock, slowly realizing who truly he had in front of him. All those details he had noticed about Lucien, the accent, the knives collection, his ability handling them… _No, no, no, he cannot be!_ He held him by the shoulders and looked at him straight into the eyes, and focused just on them, forgetting to see his hair and half of his face, remembering the balaclava… “You…” He painfully rasped.

Lucien dryly gulped and slightly nodded once… His mask had finally fallen off.

Suddenly the grip on his shoulders hurt him and all he knew a moment later had a strong hand clasping at his throat and he was pinned to the wall where earlier stood Willy. He winced and gasped, he tried to call out his name, but when he saw how furious the other man looked, he felt fear blocking his words.

Outraged, insulted and humiliated, Willy raised his left hand into a tight fist and was ready to strike. His mind got back in years, at the moment when he read the BLU Spy’s note at the celebration of the end of the war, and now the vermin was before him…he had lied to him…all that time, Lucien knew who he was and he had hidden himself from him…

With a wild scream, William, the Ex-RED Sniper, launched his fist forward.

 

Lucien opened his eyes, he still felt a strong grip around his neck, but the strike never hit him. The fist had sunken into the wall, at his right, missing him for a really short distance. Willy’s face was unreadable… he was looking at him, but at the same time he seemed to look far from him. The hand around his neck let him go and without any strength left in his legs, Lucien slid down the wall sitting on the floor, as William moved out without even a last glance at him, slamming the door behind himself.

 

 


	16. Hearts at peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh the drama >:D

The door opened suddenly, slamming against few boxes behind, startling both Theodore and Nikolai. William stomped inside heading toward the bathroom, ignoring Nik’s worried voice, but he sharply stopped as he heard Ted’s. Looking pretty messily, hair fluffed up and shirt wide open, he stared at him with icy eyes and deaf ears. The doctor was rushing to him, calling him, and very concerned seeing his left hand bleeding.

“ _You bloody traitor!”_ Willy roared clenching his fists, freezing the medic on the spot. With heavy steps, he dangerously walked up to him. “ _You knew!_ There’s NO WAY YOU DIDN’T KNOW!”

Theodore went pale and shakily retreated, but Willy had cornered him and if it wasn’t for Nikolai to step in just in time to block him, Ted would have ended seriously injured.

“LET ME GO!”

Big Nik held him with not much effort, easily lifting the Aussie from the ground, and despite his kicking and struggling, Willy had no chance to get free from the big man’s grip. “Willy, please, calm down! What is wrong with you?!”

Soon the lanky man stopped trying and, with a groaning sigh, he slumped forward, panting and shaking. Nik gently put him down and helped him to a chair, holding him by the shoulder, while his eyes darted to the medic. Willy leaned on his elbows and avoided any other contact.

Ted walked to him and kneeled down, trying to see him in the face. “Willy, listen to me-“

“Why haven’t you told me…?”

With a deep sigh, Ted rubbed the other man’s arm, squeezing it gently. “I was just trying to protect you. I didn’t want more things to trouble you at the moment, we were going to tell you eventually…”

Willy looked away without adding anything else.

“Doctor,” Big Nik’s voice quietly echoed in the room. “Is it something should I need to know as well?”

With a nod, Ted got up. “Later. Please, check his hand, I need to go to talk to Lucien for a moment.”

 

Still sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, Lucien was absently staring at the last lights of the sunset out of the window. Fantôme was circling around him meowing and cuddling against his legs, trying to get him up back on his feet, but her human wasn’t in the mood and he ignored her for a while. He was long lost in his thoughts and couldn’t really tell what had just happened. Did Willy really kiss him back, or he had dreamt it all in that short half second he had ruined everything and Willy had violently reacted to it? He seriously couldn’t tell…

A meow finally caught his attention causing him to look down. She was vigorously cuddling against his knee purring loudly, giving him few nibbles of affection as well. He patted her head and immediately noticed his shirt open. Did he dream of Willy touching him as well? Still…his lips were tingling and he was sure it wasn’t because of the peck he stole. No no no no, _William had kissed him back._ He brought his fingers to his lips in awe and he blushed deeply. _He…He was gay!_

He suddenly felt nauseous and his head was spinning so much he felt dizzy as well. _Could it be that all those years…?_ His stomach twisted and he could taste acid in the back of his mouth. How stupid can one be?!

Someone vigorously knocked at his door.

With still trembling legs and needing a support to grab on, Lucien slowly got up and walked to the door, opening just enough to see Theodore’s face. “Uhh…what you want?”

The doctor was standing in front of him looking pretty angry at first, but as he saw the face of the other, his expression changed into concern. “What happened down here? You look awful.”

“Good to see you back, now fuck off.” Lucien acidly said as he was closing the door, but Theo insisted holding it.

“Lucien, what the hell happened between you and Willy? He’s upstairs deeply upset!”

_“None of your fucking business!”_ He hissed and slammed the door on his face. He grimaced in sorrow and headed to the bedroom to lay down, promising himself to talk to Willy in the morning.

Clueless and slightly hurt, Theo could only go back upstairs. He had never seen his friend like that.

 

Willy didn’t want to talk, he let Nik take care of his hand and wrap it up in a nice bandage, but he didn’t join them at dinner, he grabbed a bottle of water and went to bed. His mind kept rewinding what had just happened, and the more he thought about it, the more he believed he had overreacted. Countless questions without answer overwhelmed him, making it impossible for him to fall asleep. _The Spook…Lucien is the Spook…_

He sat up and collected his wallet from the drawer of the nightstand, where he kept that last note the damn BLU member had left him before disappearing. He took it out, but didn’t open it to read it, he memorized those words years ago. That simple overused piece of paper still made him furious, but now he had a chance to have an explanation. He tucked it in his pocket and looked at the time, pretty surprised to see it was past midnight. Should he wait until morning? …No, he waited too much already and had run out of patience years before.

He sneaked out of the room, everything was dark, yet he could hear soft snoring from the living room. Theo and Nik had fallen asleep there, ending up cuddling in the tight space of the couch. William silently headed tip-stepped to the door and closed it behind himself as gently as he could.

Unbeknownst to him, the simple click of the lock startled Big Nik awake, accidentally causing him to push the poor doctor over the edge. “Gah! Sorry, doctor.” He tried not to laugh as he helped him up back into his arms.

Theo grumpily sat against him massaging his butt. “What was that for?”

Both men realized something was odd, Nik rushed to Willy’s room while Ted silently opened the main door, hearing footsteps. “Nik, come here.” He whispered at the big guy and both stretched an ear to hear any word from downstairs.

 

Lucien tried to turn off his alarm clock as he heard a ringing, but that damn thing didn’t stop its annoying sound… _Wait, it’s not the clock._ Finally fully awake, he got up and dizzily went to the door, gulped and opened it with shaky hands. He didn’t need light to know who was standing there in the dark and just the thought made him feel insignificantly small.

Willy had tried to keep an angry face, but he simply couldn’t with that man… “Can we talk?” He shyly asked and Lucien let him in. They awkwardly stood one before the other until Lucien signed to have a sit on the couch. He walked to a small lamp to turn it on and sat down on the L branch of the couch, so they could face each other.

Under that soft light William saw how truly tired Lucien was and he totally forgot what the first question he wanted to ask him was.

Lucien rubbed his eyes with both hands and tried to croak out an apology, but Willy placed a hand on his knee startling him.

“I have so many questions, Lu, I don’t know where to start.” His hand squeezed Lucien’s knee, but Lucien didn’t dare to touch him. He took a moment to breathe, allowing his racing heart to calm a bit. “Why?” He pulled back his hand to show the piece of paper.

Lucien didn’t recognize it immediately, but when he did his eyes widened in shock.

“Why did you leave like that? Why haven’t you said a word when we met again?! Why did you hide and lie to me?! _Why are you here in the first place?!_ ” He had to bite his tongue to stop.

Lucien passed a hand in his hair and took a deep breath. “Damn it, Willy… Why I didn’t tell you who I was in the first place, you ask? I didn’t want to be remembered as what I used to be… I wished for a new life, I wanted to forget the past. I didn’t even expect you to appear at my door! I was fine here until the day you and Heavy became my neighbours!” He stopped a second to calm down, leaning back against the seatback. “I was terrorized when I recognized you… I’ve been here for years and then you suddenly return into my life. I didn’t know how to react at first, but you didn’t recognize me of course and I…cowardly hoped for a new beginning. I wanted to be your friend again, but I started….falling for you again and…I lost control over everything.”

William had calmed down along with Lucien’s words, he sounded honest and deeply hurt. He nodded to him understanding. “Lucien,” he looked straight at him, “ _why did you leave?_ ” He asked again with broken voice. “We were best friends, if not more; can you imagine how could I have felt? I was searching for you when Theo gave me your note. After I read it, I was heartbroken. No need to tell you how I feel _now._ ”

“I…” He couldn’t hold his glance. “I’m sorry, William… I couldn’t tell if we could have a future t-together… I wasn’t able to read you and I feared for the worst scenario… I was hoping to have you as my lover, but the more I looked at you, the more incompatible I saw you. You looked so at ease around women,” He remembered how the women of their teams looked at him and how he looked at them. “I thought I had no chance. I really didn’t want to face the humiliation of a rejection, not with you, so I took the coward way out, I didn’t want you to remember me under such a bad light. The last drop has been right that evening when I saw you at the phone, I thought you had already someone waiting for you at home.”

It was hard to let that all sink in and eventually William pulled Lucien’s chin up, forcing him to look at him. “You’re a bloody fucking idiot, spook…blind AND deaf as fuck. Always been.”

At those words Lucien stood up rigidly, offended and confused at the same time. “Thank you very much for the comprehension! I’m trying to be as honest as possible with you and you insult me?! I don’t need that!”

Willy quickly got up and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Listen to me, you quick-conclusion-digger! I have never had more than a simple tease with women, never had a girlfriend in my life and never will. The only woman in my life was my mama.” He gulped hard at his own last words, and slowly, Lucien started listening to him again. “Why do you think I was always with you? I was always around you no matter what and when you weren’t in sight, I always searched for you.” His grip became gentler and he started rubbing those skinny shoulders tenderly. “I wanted your company for a reason. I had planned to…ask you out at the end of the war, but you left before I had the chance….”

Lucien closed his eyes and rubbed his face, looking away again. “I never realized that you could have been interested in me…For all those years fighting one against the other and then side by side, I really never realized it. Willy… I never wanted to hurt you…” His hand covered his trembling lips.

The taller man nodded and gave his arms a nice rub. “I know. Although everything, you showed me your true side here, in the last weeks. With you I found a piece of myself again. For months I felt empty after what happened to my family, but you managed to give me a new hope; I really treasured the friendship that was born between us again and made me think a lot. Theo and Nik did their best and I’ll never stop being grateful to them, but I could feel myself sinking more and more every day.” His hands moved to his cheeks, caressing them. “No wonder I felt so at ease around you, no wonder I had fallen in love with you. Again.” He offered a soft chuckle, getting a tear in return.

“I’m not that worthy…”

“I’ll be the one to judge that, spook.”

The two collapsed into a breath-taking, tight hug, with Lucien hiding his face against the taller man’s neck, and Willy kissing his head, having a hand behind it, and gently rocking him.

“I’m so happy to see you again.” Willy whispered and kissed his cheek, holding him even tighter, and Lucien’s hands protectively rubbed his back.

Everything seemed to not matter anymore and both of them wanted to open a new chapter. There was the need to leave the past behind, never forgetting it, but stopping living in it, and as they looked into each other’s watery eyes, exchanging an old fashioned small grin, both Lucien and William understood it and their kiss sanctioned it.

“You damn owe me a date, Lu.”

Lucien exploded into a laugh with tears rapidly signing his cheeks. “Yes, yes, I damn do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, guys, this work is draining emotions out of me! I would have never imagined it would have become so complex and long, I initially planned something easy going for about 4-5 chapters and today I'm on ch. 16! X_X That's a bunch of stuff! But, man, I had a lot of fun and if it wasn't for you guys who so warmly supported me from the beginning, I wouldn't be here writing and fantasizing! I wanted to thank you all for all the kind words you shared and the sweet gifts you gave me! That was all unexpected and, god, guys, I admit I cried a couple of times for how much I was touched.  
> THANK YOU.
> 
> PS: Fear not, this is not the last chapter.


	17. Fluffy beginning

Willy chuckled and gently wiped his tears with his thumbs. “You look exhausted, Lu.”

“Well, guess who is to blame.” He teased.

The other dramatically rolled his eyes, chuckling some more and his hands slipped down Lucien’s arms until one was holding the other’s hands. There, Willy noticed his bandage. “What did you actually do here?” It was curious to see that one had the left hand with bandages and the other had the right one instead.

Lucien sighed sadly. “I was so out of myself that I,” he snorted, “punched the mirror in the bathroom sending it into shards.”

Willy laughed with him and brought his hurt hand up to his lips, giving his knuckles a peck. “You ass. You called jinx on you for the next seven years.”

With a smooth quick movement, Lucien had the other’s wounded hand tightly in his by the fingers. “And how much misfortune does a broken wall bring to a human being?”

“Ahah…sorry about that.” He bit his tongue, giggling and blushing. “I’ll fix it tomorrow. Promise.”

Lucien waved it off. “Doesn’t matter. We were both out of our minds, I guess.” He carefully managed the other’s bandage. “Does it hurt?”

“Nah. Not a sissy over scratches.”

“Oh really? I let you know I remember our first fight.”

“I see your old habit of rubbing stuff on other people’s face is still there.” He grinned, actually pleased to hear that familiar tone.

Lucien tsk’d. “I use it just with particular people.”

“That is the smug face I know.” Willy kissed his cheeked and brought his arm behind his back, protectively, as he led him to the bedroom, until he sharply stopped. “Hold on.” He frowned as he took out the old note again. “There’s one last thing I need to do. _We_ need to do.

Staring at that paper with a hint of fear, Lucien took a step back. “Keep it away from me, I don’t want to read it.”

“You have a lighter?” Willy asked, impassable.

There was a nice fresh breeze on the balcony and the view of the city’s lights in the dark of the night was quite hypnotic. Also the tiny flame of the lighter had the same effect, Lucien stared at it for half a second before reaching Willy outside.

“Quite chilly tonight.” He greeted him hugging him from behind, wrapping his arm around him.

Warm, safe and comfortable, Lucien could only relax in his embrace and lean more against his chest.

Willy must have felt how the man was feeling since he held him tighter and kissed his neck. “You ready?”

Lucien dozily nodded and held out the flame in front of them, and Willy carefully brought the paper over it. As it caught fire, he quickly turned it to have the flame on top and let it slowly eat the paper whole. When he couldn’t hold it any longer, he let the wind take it and bring it high in the sky as a little firebug.

“Let’s go to sleep, Willy.” Lucien said after few moments.

As they got inside, they both realized they were still wearing their day clothes, messily rearranged as they had gone to bed earlier.

“You can have one of my PJs, I should have one of your size.” Lucien offered and started searching for something comfy for his taller lover.

“You…sure it’s not a bother?”

“You trying to run already?” Lucien teased.

Willy gasped. “N-No, but maybe you still wanted your privacy.” Quickly, he caught the shirt and shorts tossed to him.

“You’re lucky I have a king-size bed.” He snorted and started changing, fully aware of William staring at his back. Once ready, he just let himself fall on the bed, landing face down on the pillow. He lazily turned, settling himself on the side, facing Willy, who was standing next to the bed, waiting for Lucien’s invite. He smiled and moved the thin sheets. “Come on, hop in.”

Willy turned off the lights and elegantly moved on the bed, stretching next to him and wiggling to get closer, until he had his arms around him, one under his head.

“Clingy, aren’t we?” Lucien sleepily mumbled as his own arms snaked around the other’s thin abdomen. Soon he felt arms jokingly hold him tighter. “Can’t breathe down here.” He grumbled against Willy’s shirt, eventually he pulled away as he felt the arms getting loose.

Willy snorted. “Shhh, sleep already, spook.” His hand gently rubbed his back until Lucien’s breathing became deep and regular.

-

A strong smell coffee called Lucien out of his slumber. With his eyes still closed he tasted around with a hand, just to find Fantôme happily sprawled on the spot once occupied by William. She chirped and purred as his hand landed on her head. Lucien opened his eyes and smiled. “Always stealing other people’s spots, eh, petite?” She jumped on her feet and started cuddling furiously against his chest and chin, pushing him into sitting up. “Fine, fine, I’m up.” As he left the bed, she took his spot. Shaking his head at her, he left the bedroom.

“G’morning.” Willy greeted him while flipping a pancake, goofily almost missing it.

Lucien stared at him surprised. “What’s the meaning of this? I asked for breakfast in bed.” He teased and Willy immediately bounced the ball back.

“I’m sorry, your majesty, but the cat was an awful tray.”

The blondie chuckled and walked up to him. “Smell delicious. Where did you get the ingredients?”

“Went out early and found a little store.” He flipped the pancake. “Come on, hurry up, it’s almost ready.”

When Lucien was back fresh and in new clothes, Willy was already waiting for him at the table.

“Coffee?”

“Oui, please.”

“If I remember correctly you used to love espresso.” Willy said giving him one.

Lucien sighed smiling. “Your memory doesn’t fail.” He finally sat down with him and had almost a heart attack suddenly seeing about a dozen of bottles in front of him.

“I didn’t know what you like on pancakes… I took few types of syrups and other stuff…” Willy blushed hiding behind the cup of coffee.

Maple syrup, simple syrup, corn syrup, chocolate syrup, honey, molasses… Lucien really had a big choice.

“Wow…Thanks, Willy.” He picked honey while the other man picked chocolate syrup.

“You look well rested this morning.” Willy smirked making the blondie slightly blush.

“Shush you.” He took a bite, nodding at its deliciousness. “You do look better yourself.”

Willy chuckled and took a big bite too. “May I ask you something?”

“Anything.” Lucien said, looking up at him with honest eyes.

Snorting and rubbing his face with a hand, Willy asked, “What truly happened that day we presented you Theodore?”

Lucien bit his lips holding a laugh and leaned his elbows on the table, hands with entwined fingers before his mouth. “You really want to know?”

An energetic nod was his answer.

“He came to me at night, he hugged me and then punched me flat to the ground.”

Willy started coughing and almost choked from laughter, at some point Lucien had to pat his back. “Classic *cough*old Ted!”

“We had a ‘midnight tea’ like old times after that. Tea and ice on the eye.” He giggled. “I guess I deserved it, ah.”

Willy punched his chest clearing his throat. “Yeah, you did.” His hand moved under Lucien’s chin, gently grabbing it and making him look at him. “But you deserve also something else.”

Lucien arched a brow up smirking and Willy’s lips were immediately over his in a tender peck. He chuckled. “Just that?”

“Probably.” He teased.

“I had something else in mind.” He winked. “Something you also deserve.”

Willy moved closer with the chair. “Bloody teasing snake. You haven’t changed a bit.” And with that his hand moved over Lucien’s cheek in a caress and then quickly behind his head, pulling him into a much deeper kiss, which Lucien gladly reciprocated.

“Who’s gonna tell Ted and Nik?” Willy panted between kisses.

“Don’t count on me…I had my black eye already.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was in fluff mood c:  
> Things will get spicy probably in the next chapter 


	18. Many kisses, a date and a poor papillon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!  
> Here it is the 2-in-1 chapter I blabbed about on tumblr :D  
> It took me longer than expected but I hope you'll like it!

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Willy asked, hesitating on the door, but Lucien’s look made it clear he preferred to wait safely in his flat instead of facing the hysterical doctor and the golem lover of his. He kissed him quickly on the lips and smiled understanding. “Ok, ok, just get ice ready if I get back with a black eye. Just in case.” He kissed him again for good measure. “I don’t know when I’ll be done, might take a while.”

“Just in case.” Lucien repeated snickering. “Take care.”

Willy winked and trotted upstairs. “Catch you later, hun.”

Lucien retreated indoors and got ready to change few things around the house, but he had to simply sit for a tiny second first. He’ll never admit it, but hearing him calling like that made him feel all fuzzy inside. So many things in such a short time, yet he didn’t regret one little thing.

Except for the mirror and the wall….

-

“Oh! There you are.” Big Nik could only smile as he saw his little friend safe and sound. “Doctor has been up since you left until dawn, worried. Tried to convince him you were doing ok. He didn’t listen. As usual.” Chuckling, he let him in.

“William! _Gott sei Dank_ _,_ _du_ _bist_ _ok_!“ Theodore literally jumped on him, checking for any wound or bruise, until finally Willy grabbed his wrists pushing him off, gently.

“Doc, I didn’t go back to war, I was just downstairs, you know?”

“Exactly! You were with him! Why would you even stay to him? Did he hurt you? Did you two fight?”

Willy looked quite helpless and confused, and his eyes shot up to the big man who quickly intervened walking behind the medic and delicately pulling him away, sighing. The quick look they shared suggested the Aussie he had figured it out all quickly and easily, while apparently Theodore had no clue. In fact, he never had a clue…

Big Nik half forced Theo to sit down at the table and sat next to him. “So, that is true, isn’t it? Lucien used to be our Blu spy. Such odds.” His famous big smile appeared on his face. “So how did it go? You surely haven’t slipped away in the middle of the night for nothing.” _Oh, he knew._

Willy could feel his face burn, but unfortunately had no chance to speak.

“Why did you in the first place?! Couldn’t you wait until morning? What was so special about it?” Ted was almost yelling his words and Nikolai rolled his eyes. “I panicked when I couldn’t hear you in the staircase anymore!”

“Doctor…” He sighed remembering how hard it was for him to bring his man back indoors…

“Would you let me explain?” Willy tried to keep his voice down, but he was sick to have Theodore being his mother hen. “I have quite a bit thing to say, ok? Many things happened in such a short time, I’m still astonished by it myself, but here’s the thing. Something _happened_ yesterday evening, but I was more than ok with it, I really, really liked him already and then, well, things slipped when turned out he was the spy, and ah…I didn’t take it well. I overreacted, that’s why I couldn’t wait and went to apologize. We made up after a long talk. Then we simply fell asleep together.”

Big Nik was honestly enjoying it a lot enthusiastically clapping at his friend. “Tell us, is he good kisser?”

“ _Nien nien nien_!! Wait a second here!” Theodore on the other hand had hard time munching his words and was dramatically gesticulating. “ _You AND Lucien_?! What-ah-SINCE WHEN?!” He was standing now and Nik had to hold him.

“Teddy, please calm do-“

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Lucien never showed me to be homosexual, not even once I’ve known him! And Willy, you can’t be with him! Don’t you think it’s too soon after what you’ve been through?!”

“Actually he’s pansexual, Ted, and I’ve wanted to date him even at the time of the war! Do you know the real reason he left? He was in love with me, but thought I wasn’t for him and couldn’t bear a rejection! And as much as stupid and coward he’s been, I forgave him and we gave each other another chance!” He realized just then that he had been standing up too, he sat down seeing no reaction from the shocked doctor. “And by the way, I think it’s the perfect time for me to move on. It’s been months and I’m sick of leaving in the past. You and Nik gave me so much and I’ll never stop being thankful for,” Theodore silently sat back down, “but Lucien showed me his true self in the last weeks, making me understand he’s the right person I need at my side. Thursday night I had a crisis…he’s been there for me and trusted him enough to open up…”

Silence fell among them for long seconds, until it was Theodore to speak first, enormously surprised by the last thing Willy said. In the months he’s been curing him, he never heard him talking about the incident, nor did Nikolai. If Lucien had given him such security, then… “I…owe you an apology, William.” He stood up and offered him his hand, but he did not received what he expected, Willy walked around the table, took his hand tightly and pulled him into a tight hug, lifting him up from the floor.

“Don’t forget about me!” Nik mumbled and quickly joined them lifting both from the ground. As they were settled back down, they all laughed pleased to have things cleared.

“I’ll still never thank you two enough for what you did for me, mates.”

“Hmmm, there might be a way.” Nik’s lips curled maliciously. “Tell us details from the night!” He flopped down with his chin propped up in his hands. Theodore joined him with the same amount of curiosity.

Willy’s face turned as red as a tomato in a blink. “You might look shy, but you’re such a gossip man… First of all, nothing of what you think happened, ok?”

-

Downstairs, Lucien had been working hard tiding and fixing all he could in the house. Luckily the new mirror arrived and he could change that as well. _Willy is right._ He thought watching at his own reflection. Surely he still had a pretty tired face, but he had a new glow and felt a lot better, and it was visible. With a cocky smile printed on his face, he moved on.

He had taken out his favourite sheets; after all, the season was changing and he wanted fluffier and warmer blankets. He loved those browns and white bands and those light blue thin stripes in between, and from that day he hoped he had one more reason to love them more. A fluffy tail appeared in his sight and he caught her just in time in air before she could even land a paw on the bed. “Don’t you dare, _petit_ , it’s not for you!” She protested and struggled, but Lucien didn’t listen to her and launched her out of the room. Pesky cats who always jump on freshly done beds! She reappeared and he had to push her out again, this time closing the door, which she started immediately scratching on. “No! Stay out.” He lazily sat down to rest when an idea shined in his head.

Willy wanted a date? He’ll be given a hell of a date! He opened his drawer and dug for his agenda, browsed through pages and dozens of tickets until he found the name of one of the best restaurants he had ever been to. He picked up the phone from his stand and composed the number. “Margie? Hi, it’s Lucien.” He quickly detached the ear hearing the overjoyed shrieking his friend made. For a solid minute he could just hear loud happy noises and a flood of questions. “Haha, it’s so good to hear you too. Listen, yeah, there might be one thing you could do…” He licked his lips. “Is the patio free tonight?”

-

Few hours had flown by, everything was done and ready, only William was missing and Lucien was starting to worry. Around 6pm, the bell rang. Quickly, he jumped up from the couch, launching the cat on the carpet, and he couldn’t be happier to open the door and expect the lanky guy waiting on the other side. But he got quickly disappointed finding a huge man glaring down at him. “Oh…” Lucien felt that ugly sensation of being a mouse in trap once again. He gulped trying to not have his hands shaking. “Good evening, Nikolai.”

The big man looked ready to grab him and crash his head in his hands. “Good evening, Spy. Give me your hand.”

Lucien became as pale as a ghost and took a step back. He really didn’t know how to react to that big hand offered to him, but he had no choice, he remembered how strong the man was on the battlefield when they were enemies. As soon as Nik had his tiny hand in his, he quickly and easily pulled him up into a crunching bear hug while two other men laughed behind him.

“Did you see his face?!” Theodore wheezed holding himself against the wall with a hand.

Lucien gasped deeply as he got released, glad to see Willy at his side helping him stand. “What the hell..?” He coughed as his back got patted.

“We wanted to give you the welcome back!” The thunderous laugh of the Russian man echoed in the stairway.

Willy was drying his tears with his palm. “Sorry, mate, we couldn’t resist. Are you all in one piece?”

He coughed again. “You all better run before I get my knives. Cough!”

The doctor was barely standing still laughing at full lungs.

“Next time you come for a tea I’ll be sure yours to be poisoned, Ted.”

“AH! You wish! You got what you deserved!” Nik shook his head and held him close, balancing him as he kept snorting. “Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “Herr William is all yours.”

Lucien made a face. “Does it look like we need some kind of blessing from you?”

Theodore scoffed and grinned. “With you around, it’s always needed.”

“Don’t you have anything to do then standing before my door?”

“Come on, doctor, let’s leave them alone, they have a lot to talk about.” Big Nik winked at Willy making him blush and drove Ted away, who waved at them wishing goodnight.

Lucien shook his head and walked back inside, followed by a trotting Willy. “I guess they took it pretty wel-“ He was cut off as William grabbed him by the cheeks and kissed him deeply, melting in his grip. “…hmm what was that for?” He slurred, enchanted, as he let himself flop against Willy’s figure, one cocooning the other in their arms.

“Just returning the good luck you passed me earlier. It went unbelievably well and no black eye.”

Lucien snorted and kissed him quickly back. “Let’s have you keep that.”

“Oh? Why so?”

“Because,” Lucien looked up at the clock on the wall, “you have slightly more than an hour to shower, dress up, get yourself ready and be here for about 7.30pm so we could go on our date.” He patted his chest.

William’s face bleached. “D-D-Date?”

“They’re waiting for us at 8pm.” He grinned.

The moment after, William fled to the door, opened it, quickly avoided and jumped over falling-in Theodore and Nikolai and rushed upstairs. The couple crashed on Lucien’s floor, Ted crunched by Big Nik’s weight, while their glasses shattered as they hit the ground. Lucien patiently walked up to them and grinned, way too happy to have caught them trying to spy on them. “As if you could hear a thing through these walls.” And the couple could answer just with an embarrassed smile.

It was 7.29pm when Willy rang his bell. Lucien quickly looked around one last time to see if everything was in check. Made Ted and Nik clean the floor from shattered glass? Check. Fed the cat? Check. Closed the door of the bedroom to not make her jump on the bed? Check. Looking fabulous? Absolutely check.

When he got to the door he had to admit it though, he was as tense as a violin chord and nothing could get him ready for the view he was going to get. He remained in awe as he saw William, towering him in such rustic elegance and beauty he didn’t think possible…

Also the other man remained staring at him, gaping and noisily gulping to get his voice back. “G’evening, Lu. Man, you’re gorgeous, mate.”

Lucien blushed furiously, but tried to not lose dignity. “You look quite ravishing yourself, my dear.” Making him blush as well, making him go as red as his…suit…

For a second the two of them froze analysing each other’s suits’ colours… William was wearing a red wine suit, with black shirt underneath, adorned with stylish aboriginal symbols falling down his front next the buttons line, and an adorable white papillon; while Lucien had a black suit, white silk gloves, an electric blue waistcoat and tie over a white shirt… Thinking about their previous roles in the war, the two exploded laughing at themselves.

“Is this place good?” Willy asked excited as Lucien parked in a wide parking lot next to a luxurious yet curiously looking restaurant. They had left the city behind and drove through the countryside, ending in an isolated tree-hidden spot, close to a river as they could hear. It was a two-storey building with rustic columns and an open space on the roof. The sign painted over the entrance said “ _Margherita_ ”

“One of the very best.” He was still removing his belt when Willy darted outside, agilely jumped over the car and got to his door, opening it for him. Lucien smiled and shook his head, but got out thanking him for the kind gesture. He had somehow noticed Willy’s hesitating arm as they walked toward the main entrance, so he sneakily held on to it and exchanged a smile with him, visibly calming him down.

Few steps into the hall and a charming looking madam in a marvellous auburn mane and in purple dress spotted them and quickly approached them. “Lucien, _chérie_ , it’s been an eternity! You cannot imagine my happiness to see you once again.” Hearing her voice, William got quite a scare. It was so…masculine… even her features seemed a bit odd to his eyes, but Lucien looked very at ease and kissed her hand.

“Oh Margie, forgive me, but many things have happened in the last times.”

“I’ll see if I can forgive you in the future.” She turned to William with a delightful smile. “Oh my, what a lovely fellow you brought with you, Lucien. Would you introduce us?”

“But of course. William, this is Ma’am Margherita, owner of this delightful restaurant and dear friend of mine.” She brought her hand to her bosom and made a slight bow with her head. “Margie, this is William. My date.”

“ _Enchantè,_ _chérie_ _._ ”

Willy goofily bowed his head at her, reciprocating the pleasure and making her giggle. “Delighted, ma’am.”

“What a fascinating man. Please, follow me!” And she trotted off heading to a wide side staircase. Lucien and Willy followed, but it was hard to not notice the Aussie’s confusion, to which Lucien chuckled hiding behind a gloved hand.

“Charlie! Charlie, please come over here!” She called as a young man with her same wild red hair appeared from the kitchens’ door.

“Yes, dad? Oh my, Lucien!”

“Do you remember my son, Charlie, don’t you Luci?”

“How can I forget him?” He exclaimed excited, shaking his hand with the lad. “Wow, you’ve grown up so much! Allow me to introduce you William.”

“My pleasure, sir.” He exchanged a handshake with him as well. “Shall I lead them to their table, dad?” He stood up straight and composed.

“Please do, and make sure everything to be perfect.” She turned to Lucien. “I’ll be your personal chef for tonight. For anything you need, please ask Charlie. Oh one last thing, _chèrie,_ how is dear Mama Rin?”

“Nagging and mumbling as always, Margie.”

She chuckled. “Bless her kind soul. Later meet me in the hall, I’ll prepare something for her. I wish you a wonderful evening, darlings.” And she disappeared behind a door.

Charlie led them upstairs ending in a wide open space on the roof, elegantly decorated with plants and flowers of many colours and tall palms following the glass ceiling. There were 3 tables aligned close to the wall, but before Charlie could show them theirs, Lucien stopped him convincing him it wasn’t necessary and to give them 5 minutes of privacy. The young man bowed and showed him his buzzer on the belt and the little buttons on the tables, then disappeared downstairs.

Turning to William, he saw him by the balcony handrail, staring at the amazing view of the countryside illuminated by the last lights of the sunset. “This place looks amazing, Lu.”

Lucien leaned against his side. “I’m seeing something else looking even more amazing than that.”

“I’m not a mirror.” William looked down at him with a grin. Lucien scoffed and pulled him away from the balcony, away from possible curious eyes down below, to kiss him.

“Do I look that narcissist?”

“Sometimes.” Willy snorted and kissed him again.

They chose the table in the middle, the one with the rattan chairs and looked at their menus.

“Everything seems delicious just by the name! I don’t know where to start.” William said, surprised by the rusticity of the choices. He had to admit he was expecting things from a different level, that kind of stuff he usually avoided. He was pleasantly surprised.

“I suggest steak with mushroom sauce, it’s Margie’s speciality. She doesn’t cook usually, only for special guests, and always loves giving big portions.” He noticed his face again. “You look so confused, dear.”

“I am…” He said guilty.

Lucien laughed and rubbed his arm. “Long story short. Margie was born as a man, but always had an original way to express himself. Got married and had Charlie, but the wife got tired of him, divorced and he finally could be herself freely. Charlie was old enough to do whatever he liked and helped his father to open the restaurant few years ago. Better?”

William could only blush and giggle. “Yeah, thanks. I like her.”

Charlie responded quickly to their call and promptly served them delicate appetizers of cold cuts, dressed bread and tiny white onions.

“Then we’ll have saffron risotto and tenderloins with mushrooms. Chianti, if you have.”

Charlie smiled. “Of course, Lu. Will be back in few minutes.”

They thanked him and focused on the appetizers.

“I haven’t seen if our building has an elevator. We’ll be back rolling on our bellies.” Willy pointed.

“I’ll simply roll you up the stairs.” Lucien teased making the other man choke.

In short, abundant risottos reached their table, aromatizing the air with a tasty strong scent.

“To us.” Lucien raised his chalice of red wine to toast, and Willy joined him with pleasure.

“And a new beginning, yes?” He blushed receiving a smile of confirmation.

“You talked about any plan for the future with them?” Lucien asked him after some time, thinking back at when Willy went to talk to Theodore and Nikolai.

“Plan is a big word… they use that flat just once in a while, they keep coming and going and I’m free to use it as well.”

“You know you’re free to move in with me, don’t you?” Lucien grinned at him, enjoying the colour change on the other man’s cheeks.

He gulped. “A-Are you sure, Lu? Wouldn’t be too much? What about Fantôme? I cannot take her place.”

 _Ah, nice save._ “She’s a cat, she can sleep on the chair and luckily she’s not my lover.”

Both of them chuckled at that and soon started thinking about Willy’s moving in in details. There was enough room for him for sure.

“On just one condition, though.”

Lucien frowned at him. “What you mean?”

Scooting closer, Willy whispered in his ear. “Once a day, we must play together. And… I want many kisses.”

“That could be arranged, but I promise nothing.” He smirked and stole a kiss right before the steaks arrived.

It was dark and chilly soon, but the atmosphere around them remained warm and cosy. They were looking down at other guests in the garden enjoying their evening, when Lucien took out his cigarettes and offered him one. He lightened his first and leant closer to William to make the cigs’ ends touch. Willy puffed until his was on and brushed the other’s cheek with a thumb.

“Is your aim still as good as it used to be?” Lucien bumped him with his shoulder.

“What you mean ‘used to’?” He looked down until he found a target. “See that plump pretty lady with a cocktail?”

“What do you have in mind?” Lucien laughed following him with his eyes as he went to get one of the remaining olives from the appetizers.

“Another of these in her drink won’t hurt.” He aimed in silence for a couple of seconds and launched it. It would have been a perfect shot if the lady wouldn’t have turned around at the wrong time, making the olive disappear right between her generous breasts. She started screaming “OH MY GOD A FROG! A FROG ASSUALTED ME!” And a friend of hers tried to catch the menacing frog with his hand, resulting in more screaming.

The couple of the roof quickly hid and started laughing like crazy.

“You jerk!” Lucien coughed.

-

“Care for some ice cream?”

“No, no, I’m too full, Lu…” Willy leaned back on the chair half-wanting to get his belt loose.

“Not even if I feed it to you?” He grinned placing a leg over the other.

“…Get that damn ice cream now.” And he quickly enlarged his belt.

-

“Lucien, William, it’s been such a pleasure tonight! I hope your evening has been marvellous.” Margie kissed their cheeks and gave them a little heavy bag. “Here something for you and Mama Rin as well.”

“The food was amazing, ma’am, and the service impeccable.” Willy bowed, making her blush. “I hope to come another time soon.” He winked at Lucien.

“You’re more than welcome here! It’ll be my pleasure to cook for you again.”

“Thank you for everything, Margie.” He kissed her cheek again and turned to Charlie. “Keep an eye on her for me, will you?”

With the last goodbyes, the couple moved back to their car and Lucien drove back home.

“Was the date of your liking, dear?” He asked, slightly huffing while getting upstairs.

William stopped before the door and smiled at him. “It’s been magnificent.” He took breath and leaned closer to him, letting their foreheads touch. “You’re magnificent. And you didn’t even have to roll me upstairs.”

Lucien kissed him and fumbled to get the door open. “If you want, there’s more…than just the dinner.” He pushed him in and kicked the door close behind as his hands and lips got busy all over William. “I’ve been wanting to bite that papillon of yours off all evening.”

William chuckled and smoothly removed Lucien’s jacket from his shoulders. “I’m listening…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we all know what's gonna happen in the next chapter, don't we? Eh? EH? lol  
> I tried to pack it all up in one chapter but it was getting too long. 
> 
> Let me show you the suits references I found for [William's ](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/61/be/ff61bee2f72e18f133cb6853d599c1a1.jpg) \- I used Australian aborigenal symbols for his black shirt, but feel free to use your imagination :D - and [Lucien's](http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v1/1894608210_1/2015-New-Summer-Black-Men-s-formal-wear-Slim-fitness-Prom-suit-Notch-Lapel-bridegroom-wedding.jpg).  
> Also one ref for the [restaurant](http://www.overplace.com/files/5333/5333_20130813180038.jpg)  
> For Margie I took inspiration from [Vida Boheme ](http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2008/03/06/1111120/024777-patrick-swayze-the-time-of-his-life.jpg), from one of my favorite movies ever ["To Wong Foo, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Wong_Foo,_Thanks_for_Everything!_Julie_Newmar)
> 
> Once again, thanks for everything guys ;w;


	19. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry guys, but I hate this chapter so much I want to keep the best part of their love making in the next chapter... In the last month I had few emotional meltdowns and been a bit stressed due to job hunting and going back to university, so ya, I'm a bit sick of this chapter, not because of the need to continue though! Because I've been trying to write it down for so many times failing.   
> I prefer to forget this chapter for what it accompanied and restart a part I want to be a lot special in the next.  
> I never liked number 19 anyway haha...  
> I still hope you'll enjoy it!  
> Hugs,  
> 2Due

Lucien grumbled and snaked his arms out of his coat, since Willy was having difficulties take it off… He shook his head at him, making him blush, quickly launched the coat on the couch and smoothly returned between his long arms. He quickly helped him out from his own coat, sent it next to his and, with an evil smirk, he nuzzled under his chin, digging his way into Willy’s collar, tugging at that adorable papillon with slender fingers.

Willy leaned his head backward and bit his lip. “You spoiling me, mate…”

“I haven’t even started yet, _cher_.” He grinned against his skin. He began to leave a trail of kisses following his muscle bands and pressed his hips against his, making him shiver. He soon felt hands running down his back and stopping on his sides, pulling him closer with trembling fingers. Lucien gulped and ran a hand on his jaw, forcing him to look down at him. He chuckled. “Eager, aren’t we?”

Willy grinned and bit at a passing by thumb, pulling the white glove off. He kissed his palm and gave him a dreamy and, at the same time, wicked glance.

Lucien smirked and stole a quick kiss. “Follow me, darling.”

They quickly removed their shoes and William, bending down, couldn’t avoid puffing and mumbling on how much fat he got in that single evening. An inviting hand tickled him on the nape, gently tugging at his low pony tail and falling down his spine, sending him chills. Willy found himself amused by his touch, so gentle, so tender, so… captivating. He followed the blondie to a door, and when Lucien opened it, he noticed the new beautiful sheets at the warm light of the bedside lamp.

“Oh, fancy bed.”

“After last night I thought it was time for warmer sheets.” Hearing a purring getting louder, he quickly closed the door and ignored the scratching sounds. He walked up to Willy and with a gentle push he made him sit down. Willy flopped down, bouncing, and stretched his arms to hug that thin waist of Lucien’s, pulling him close and hiding his face against his stomach. He nuzzled tightly against him as slender arms wrapped around his head, scratching his nape. “You’re a clingy weird man, you know that?” Lucien chuckled.

Willy held him tighter and sneakily bit open the three buttons of the black waist coat, opening it and revealing the end of the tie under it. He nuzzled it out of the way and started opening the shirt with his teeth.

“Hm that was my idea though.” He leaned closer, guided by crawling hands on his back, and when Willy had reached the collar, he pushed even further and placed his knees on the bed, sitting in Willy’s lap. The Aussie’s skilful hands worked on the tie, pulling it over Lucien’s head until it was off and he let them fall, caressing his smooth cheeks. Lucien purred, pressed on those palms, kissed them, he gently took them, held them in over his lips. He smirked and led them to the last button at the collar, freeing himself from the shirt and the waist coat. He could see William’s pupils widen in awe and gulp in apprehension, but when they locked their eyes, a new strength came to Willy and he pulled him even closer to leave a long trail of kisses all over his chest.

Lucien bit his lip to suffocate a moan when Willy stopped over a nipple, kissing it, licking it, nibbling at it. He pulled him closer, craving more of such intimacy, but he goofily lost balance and the two crashed on the bed.

“And I thought spooks were gracious creatures.” Willy laughed under him. His arms snaked around him tightly.

Lucien puffed annoyed against the nook of his neck and leaned on his elbows. He looked down at him with a critic eye, but he couldn’t resist to his sweetness. Willy was offering him a sweet smile and only in _that_ moment he noticed their position. Lucien started burning blushing driving the other man to mirror him, and in a second they were all over each other once again, kissing and biting hard, leaving marks here or there with teeth and nails, and letting hands explore. Willy’s hands stopped on Lucien’s hips and he pulled away when he found something interesting hidden under the brim of his pants.

“What is it, dear-oh!”

The other man was now holding two twin knives, grinning at the ex-spy. “Old habits never die, eh?”

“Hm-hmm, pretty much.” He gasped as the blades brushed his lower back. “Oh cold.”

Willy teased him expertly handling those little knives making them flatly crawl on his skin. He kissed his chin and looked around. There was a little bullseye target in a corner, on the ground, forgotten. “Mind if I do?” He showed him the knives, keeping them both between thumb and index, by the point.

“You can still aim?” He teased.

Willy pursed his lips and threw the knives without even looking. Perfect score for both of them. “Yeah, I still can.”

“Impressive.” He admitted staring at the blades, but he got immediately called back to the previous game with hands crawling under his pants. He bit of the glove he still had on and quickly dove in, kissing and nibbling at Willy’s neck, aiming for the papillon. Once found, he tugged at it with his teeth and pulled it free.

“Careful, please, it was my dad’s.”

Lucien nodded and kissed his forehead. “I’ll put it here.” He sat back up, folding the white ribbon with care and placing it on the nightstand. He looked down at Willy and caressed his cheek, not wanting him to fall back into the memories abyss. He kissed him on the lips and quickly bit his nose, making him go cross-eyed and sneeze. They both laughed and Lucien started working on his shirt, slowly undoing a single button at a time. “My apologies if I’m a bit…rusty.”

Willy snickered. “You’re not the only one, luv.” His hands ran on Lucien’s thighs, teasing the underside and buttocks. “But nothing two old men can’t fix, right?”

“Who’re you calling old, hm?” He started slowly moving his hips, fully feeling the growing bump in Willy’s pants.

William closed his eyes, losing himself into the little moment, biting his lip and pushing down with his feet to follow his partner’s hips with his own. Yet, something wasn’t going as Lucien had expected. He felt like Willy was kind of trying to be in his role…

Ignoring his own instincts for a couple of seconds, he caught Willy’s attention and caressed his cheek. “Is something wrong? You don’t really look at ease…”

The other man gulped, embarrassed. “It’s just…that I was thinking that we could be…the other way around…”

Lucien looked really surprised for a moment and he grinned as he got back to the buttons. “My intrepid shooter is still able to amaze me.”

“I-I hope it’s not a problem for you.”

Lucien undid the last button and leaned down to kiss his lips. “Not at all, darling, not at all!” His fingers crawled under the shirt and Willy burned up, arching his back and pushing his head against the pillow, groaning when teased over a nipple. Carefully shifting between his legs, Lucien loosened both their belts, earning a sigh of appreciation.

Lucien slowly explored, caressed and tasted, following muscles’ lines and hollow delicious spots, until he reached a patch of stretched skin, reminding him of scars… At first it was a single little spot, but the more he touched, the more he found. Concerned, he opened the shirt of his companion revealing a web of pretty young scars on both William’s sides.


	20. It's good for your skin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! (Days ago COUGH)
> 
> Hi everyone!  
> Haha, hi hi, I'm back with a new chapter and I just hope you'll enjoy! It's NSFW, so I hope you take care.
> 
> I wanted to thank you all for your infinite patience! I know how hard it is to wait for a new chapter, I do go crazy too when I'm reading my fav ongoing fanfictions and books x3 I hope you'll find the chapter of your liking!
> 
> To be fair, I had planned it to be longer and with more content in it, but I decided to cut it in half -once again- and so to have what I planned for so long for my lucky number chapter!  
> I really wanted to finish it on Nov 21st for my 25th birthday, but a lot of stuff got in the way and I'll delay my big plans for you after Dec 15th, after my exam.  
> I'll update my tumblr about it as soon as I can!
> 
> I hope you'll like it and see you after Dec 15th with the juiciest chapter!  
> HUG  
> 2Due

 

“Oh Willy…” Lucien was shocked to see so many signs on his sides and he couldn’t imagine how his back was ruined… All what was left of the explosion that took away his family. Lucien acted fast, he didn’t want him to focus on that and he grabbed his head pulling him in a tight passionate kiss. They slowly shifted to remove Willy’s shirt, pulling his scarred arms free. At such a view, Lucien could only pulling him closer, protectively.

William’s knees rose up in a tight grip around the Lucien’s hips, stealing a surprised snort from him. Lucien’s grin was close to his nose and he ran a finger on the ex-shooter’s thin lips, receiving a kiss. With an uncontrollable desire, Lucien’s hips pushed downward, hard against Willy’s, making him go dizzy with lust, his eyes suddenly defocusing and his mouth hanging open letting a guttural moan out. For a full second everything was blurry. Once their view cleared, they exchanged a knowing look, there was no coming back and warm smirk on both their faces sealed it. In a rush of clumsy moves, they took a very short time to remove the last clothes they had on, getting stuck with Willy’s pants when Lucien lifted his legs up and inelegantly tried to pull them off, ending almost falling from the bed with a laugh.

Lucien stood on his knees, straight, holding his ankles over his shoulders. “That would have been quite a thing to laugh at in the end.” He chuckled and he focused at the actual view he had in front of him. His hands slid down to Willy’s knees and held tighter. The Aussie lied completely naked, blushing, his arms over his head and with a full erection twitching and of the same colour of his cheeks. “You’re… so beautiful…” Lucien mumbled, gulping feeling all his blood rushing at his own private member in one go. He sat on his ankles and let go of Willy’s, allowing him to lock his legs around his hips again.

William said nothing, just admired him from below with his big eyes, panting and feeling the need to hold him as tight as he could, not wanting to let him go. He leaned on his elbow and touched Lucien’s cheek, cupping it in his hand. He pulled him closer with a gentle tag of his legs, making him lean on his hands on the bed, and causing his hips to bump into his own and both of them groaned eager as their privates brushed one against the other. He pulled him in a kiss, slow at first, but it took them less than a moment to dive in passionately, biting lips and moaning in each other’s mouth. His hand slipped down on the pianist’s chest and kept going downward, between their bellies, just to meet with Lucien’s. They moved away looking at each other’s eyes for a second, one letting the other guide their hands to their members. Their foreheads bumped as they both looked down, drawn by curiousness.

“A bit longer than me, I see.” Lucien chuckled, gently running his fingers over Willy’s shaft, making him shiver. All not without a hint of embarrassment.

“You have scars there too, Lu?” Willy goofily chuckled and reciprocated the caress, passing his thumb on the head.

Lucien’s head immediately dropped on his shoulder as he moaned aloud, struggling to keep his composure, but a strong arm caught him clenching around his neck, and the two flopped back down on the pillows, panting and grunting as Lucien’s hips pushed against Willy’s in slow, hard pushes. Their hands cocooned their lengths in a tight grip, moving in firm strokes, their fingers collecting drops of precum, savouring the twitches and the pulsing of each aroused member.

Willy hid his face in other’s neck, tight in concentration, not wanting to let himself go too much and too quickly, but it was not an easy challenge and was feeling losing it pretty fast. He tightened his grips around Lucien, moaning against his sensitive skin while his fingers left red marks on Lucien’s back. He couldn’t even manage to say a word, when he tried it sounded just like a throaty groan.

“Wi-Willy…” Lucien kissed his cheek with trembling lips as his speed increased in moments. His hips shifted and he had to kneel for a better position, he had to release themselves and move the hand under William’s hips, pulling them upward against himself. The gesture was much appreciated by his partner, who pressed himself harder following his moves arching his back inward. “I-I’m g-gonna…” he whispered as he leaned his forehead against his. His body twitched uncontrollably as the pressure built up, and he dared to look down at his companion. He bit his lip, both of them needed such precious release.

Lucien kissed him once and in few more pushes he felt Willy’s hand travelling from his shoulder to his nape and tightly grabbing at his hair as his body trembled violently under him, struggling to resist to the climax. He groaned and dove in biting at his neck in a pained moan reaching his own orgasm, immediately followed by a held cry from the other man.

Short, yet intense, the moment drew them to collapse one flat over the other, drawing deep quick breaths and few silly giggles. Willy hugged him, brushing his clean hand over his back, receiving small kisses on the jaw.

“I feel like a virgin after his first time again…” Lucien snickered, his fingers lazily playing around with brown curls.

“Tell me about it.” William chuckled.

Lucien smiled shaking his head. “I’m sorry if that was that quick.”

“It’s more than understandable, love.” He cupped his cheek and gave him a simple kiss on the lips. “I was losing control the moment you caressed me.” He let out a loud snort, blushing, colouring his already red cheeks even more.

“You’re an adorable dork.” And without any hesitation, Lucien caught his lips, pushing hard against him, deepening the kiss in moments. It was soon clear that neither of them had had enough…  

Lucien shifted his hips pushing Willy’s legs to spread wider, and moved one hand over his chest, crawling to his side, pressing delicate ticklish spots, causing the man to giggle into the kiss. The hand sneaked down to the hip, behind the butt cheek, moving so to lift his leg up aiming for more intimate spots. Willy’s back arched up and his breath quickened anticipating any act, and when he looked up at Lucien, his eyes were _begging_. Lucien felt his heart jump right into his throat.

“…Willy?”

“Hmmyeah?”

“I don’t have any lube…”

“What?” He yelped, fully awake.

“I don’t have any! Do you know when was the last time I had a sexual intercourse?” Lucien said, pretty ashamed by his own words.

“Ehm… Don’t you have anything as substitute?”

Lucien pushed himself up and stretched to the drawer of the nightstand, awkwardly crawling over Willy, who wrapped his arms around his waist in an unsteady balance. He dove in searching for anything that might be useful and clawed at a little tube he often used. “I have some aloe vera gel.” He shifted back with a confident smile, but seeing Willy’s unimpressed face made him frown. “What? It’s good for your skin.” He booped him on the nose with a drop, making him cross-eyed.

Willy wiped it off and shook his head chuckling. “Can we go under the blankets this time?”

“Can’t argue with being as comfortable as possible, dear.”

With a quick lift of Willy’s hips and a pull on the blankets by Lucien, the Aussie could get a nice hold on them and cover Lucien’s shoulders, careful to not let him catch a cold. They shared a purring smile, a quick peck and Lucien’s spread the gel on his fingers.

Willy’s hands crawled at his shoulders and held him tightly. “Can we turn off the light?” He gulped.

“Are you nervous?” Lucien warmly asked, but he didn’t wait for the answer, he stretched out just enough to press the button of it and the darkness engulfed the room. Just the far city lights and the waxing moon enlightened their view from the window aside. Lucien looked back down at him and smiled still being able to see his lovely features. “Worry not, love, I still remember what I need to do to…” He leaned closer to his ear and whispered with deep sensual voice, “… _to make you feel good_.”

He could feel him tensing up under him as he moved his hand under the blankets. Despite the hands gripping tight at his shoulders, Willy’s knees spread invitingly as he felt those wet fingers caressed his inner thigh.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHO WANT TO SEE THEIR NAKED BUTTS AGAIN? >:D


	21. Pillow talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE!
> 
> EDIT March 2nd, 2016  
> OMG GUYS! It's the first anniversary of this fanfiction! I can't believe I've been working on it for a year OwO  
> Happy birthday YAY

Lucien took a deep breath himself and never moved his eyes away from Willy’s face, he wanted to savour every… single… moment…of it… The littlest detail wouldn’t escape his gaze, not a twitch, nor a moan, he’ll memorize everything for that experience and cherish like a treasure deep in his mind. He moved his fingers down, crawling on the underside of Willy’s bent leg and felt him getting stiff and his hands tightening his grip on his shoulders, yet his legs calmly spread.

“Everything ok?” Lucien sweetly whispered. Seeing him quickly nod in the dim light made him grin and his fingers didn’t hesitate to caress his perineum and tease the man with slow pressing touches. He could clearly see him melting under him. He licked his lips wanting with all himself to dive in and kiss and bite that delicious exposed neck, but he couldn’t if he wanted to watch him. With the index he soon started pressing and it easily slid inside him. The reaction was immediate, Willy’s muscles clenched tightly around his finger and he closed his eyes in a focused expression. Lucien bit his own lips and simply couldn’t resist, so he dove in kissing Willy’s lips and slid down against his neck to savour his skin, nibbling and kissing. He suddenly found sensations way more important than just watching.

Willy quickly kissed him back and held him in his arms, grunting as Lucien moved in and out, twisting and apparently aiming for spots. A second finger got smoothly introduced and gently moved in, up to the knuckles, waiting the discomfort to disappear. Willy let out a satisfied grunt and arched his back taking deep regular breaths as the fingers twisted around. Lucien could feel his cheek burning as he kept exploring and gasped surprised as Willy let out a cry and clenched tighter around him.

He chuckled. “Touched a soft spot, hon?”

Willy was trembling under him, trying to keep his breathing regular, but Lucien was still pressing against his prostate and he had never felt so ready to come. Luckily the pianist made him relax and slowly started his pace again. Willy looked up at him with half closed lids, smiling and massaging Lucien’s arms with his thumbs. “I want more, luv…”

Lucien gulped feeling his throat suddenly go dry, but he nodded offering a thin smirk before diving in for a deep kiss. “So eager, hm?” He whispered breaking the intimacy with a peck, leaving William with a dreamy expression. He carefully withdrew his fingers, savouring the deep sigh the other man released, and quickly grabbed the aloe gel again, covering his own erection with it. “Ah…! Cold.” He squeaked making Willy laugh. “Shush you.” He pouted trying to appear offended, failing, and Willy’s only response has been propping himself up on an elbow to reach up and kiss him again.

With a playful push on his chest, Lucien made him lay back down. He took a long second to bathe his vision with Willy’s naked skin and his heart skipped a beat. With his clean hand he slowly drew a line over his body, from the corner of his mouth, down to the navel, tickling him in the process, and as he went downward he felt Willy’s hands caressing his hips and gripping tightly. Lucien purred loving such attention and maliciously grinned. He positioned himself a bit better lifting Willy’s hips just right and guided himself with a hand, slowly penetrating him.

A pained moan escaped from Lucien’s control and his head dropped against William’s chin, receiving a gentle trembling kiss through a gasp. Just a moment of still, overwhelming confusion, many thoughts flooded Lucien’s minds, it’s been a long time since his last time and for a moment he doubted he remembered how to do his part, but Willy quickly reminded him about his position, he tightly gripped on him with his legs, locking the ankles behind him, inviting him to go on. Lucien raised his head and looked down at him, and gulped. His hips slowly pushed forward few times, giving him time to adjust at each thrust, slowly went deeper, retreated slightly and gently pushed in more in an amazingly pleasing rhythm. He didn’t miss any twitch nor gasp, he looked every expression change, from the initial tension to the further steps of pleasure, the whole evolution until Willy let out a loud gasp pushing his head against the pillow, eyes shut tight and mouth wide open, as he was fully in.

It was bliss… Lucien took another moment to enjoy the view, panting and resisting to the urge to come, he cupped Willy’s cheek, waiting for any sign.

“M-Move, please…ah…”

He kissed him hard on the lips and lost no time in fulfilling his desire. He slid gently back few inches and pushed forward eagerly, making both of them cry out loud. Lucien recomposed himself, starting with slower and gentler movements , soon keeping a constant pace, guiding their bodies into a unison dance, their muscles flexed and relaxed at the right times, bringing them more and more pleasure.

They were panting hard soon, almost gasping for air when soft spots were hit, soft moans and grunts in each other’s ear and fingers grabbing tightly on Lucien’s back.

Not much time passed when he noticed a change in Willy, he was twitching, biting his shoulder, and hardly holding back. He slowed down, moving into calm long thrusts, deep and slow, and immediately felt him relaxing again, exposing his neck. Lucien lifted himself on his elbows to look down at him, and the view was too good to not lick his own lips. He leaned down and gently traced a series of gentle kisses around his Adam’s apple, being rewarded with a warm hand behind his head, inviting him to keep going, and Lucien wasn’t a man who let down his lover.

He could feel it each second going by, William couldn’t hold it anymore and frankly neither could he. He eagerly grabbed his cheek and forced him to look into his eyes, in that moment they both understood. They kissed hard, Lucien increased the speed just a bit while he grabbed Willy right behind the knee of his propped up leg, and pulled it further against himself, and Willy tightened his grip around his hips.

“J-Just hold one more second….!” Lucien panted sharply breaking the kiss.

Willy bit his own lip “I c-can’t, L-“ He let out a brief hiss before groaning, he got very rigid, his back arching lifting his hips up against his partner’s. “Lucien!” He cried as a wave jolted him and he released his climax between their tummies.

Lucien was right behind him, the grip around his member got so tight that he yelped, emitting a soft high pitched cry. He gritted his teeth feeling the spasms of William’s orgasm, he tried few last pushes until he froze tightly against Willy’s hips and with a loud moan he followed his partner, coming hard inside him trying with all his might to keep it going as long as he could, riding the wave of pleasure making William sigh satisfied.

He stood there, lightheaded and lost in bliss, head hanging low almost touching William’s chest, panting heavily and slowly losing the tension of the act. Yet, he never felt so good in years, all his worries and frustrations gone and all his doubts disappeared. He had just one thought in his mind and it was William.

Lucien felt a hand gently patting his cheek and a weak chuckle called him back to Earth.

“Ehy…hehe, you’re good?”

Lucien bit his lips holding back a laugh, but he couldn’t for long and he started giggling uncontrollably collapsing over him, welcomed in the other’s arms. They laughed together and shared few more kisses relaxing in a warm hug.

“Hold on.” Lucien said. He propped himself up and gently moved backward sighing in relief. Willy let out a content puff and stretched his back, making few bones pop.

Lucien flopped next to him and immediately Willy clung on him using his shoulder as pillow, yawning. The pianist kissed his forehead pulling him close and yawned as well. “I guess few hours of rest won’t hurt.”

“Hm-hm.” The other confirmed with closed eyes. “Night, luv.”

“Good night, _mon_ _cœur_.”

Lucien remained looking at the ceiling for few silent minutes before popping out a question. “You think we can walk tomorrow?”

“Oh, shut up.” William laughed with him.

 

Few hours later, right before dawn, Lucien was still awake. He was way too excited about the whole thing to be able to sleep despite he was exhausted. He had laid still in the bed with closed eyes with Willy resting against him, once a while he had caressed his side, enjoying the form of his muscles and ribs. He soon made to get up, but he didn’t even retreat his arm from under him that William mumbled something.

“You didn’t get any sleep, eh?”

Lucien scoffed. “Nope. Something tells me neither did you.”

“Just a bit.” He cuddled against Lucien’s shoulder. “What time is it?”

Lucien looked up at the clock, squinting in the dim light. “A quarter to 5.” He yawned. “And I’m too awake to fall asleep.” Suddenly, he had an idea. He excused himself recovering his arm and stretched over to the drawer of the stand. He took out something, sat up and grinned down at Willy. “Would you like to hear if there’s something going on upstairs?”

William blinked confused for a second, then gasped. “You placed bugs in Nik’s apartment, haven’t you?”

“I wasn’t a spy for nothing. Quick and unseen, as always.”

“You sly snake.” He grinned. “Turn that gizmo on.”

And so Lucien did. He had to tune in to the right bug signal for few moments, but soon they could hear familiar voices, soft murmurs and what would probably seem to be a scene similar to the one they recently had.

William shook his head. “They’re always at it…”

Lucien snorted. “Yet they are pretty quiet and discreet-“

 _Something_ from the radio froze them on the spot, _something_ neither of them would have ever expected to hear from Nik and Theodore, _something_ that made them blush in embarrassment, _something_ that drove Lucien to turn it off immediately.

The two men looked at each other, both startled by what they heard.

“Let’s never speak of it again.” Willy coughed.

“Agree. Suddenly I need some sleep.” He quickly put the radio away and flopped back under the quilt.

“Me too.” Willy copied him worrying on how he was going to face those two again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that took me forever! :D
> 
> Hello everyone!  
> Finally here it is the famous NSFW chapter and I can just hope you enjoyed it! It's actually the very first time I published something like this and I don't know what kind of reaction might get *hides*
> 
> Anyway, you have no idea how happy I am to finally be back here, in the last weeks I kept receiving amazing comments and I tried to answer to each. Reading those made me realize something I wasn't totally expecting, I learnt that my work made people feel good and somehow it helped them. I was sincerely overwhelmed by it, I'm honoured to hear such stories and it couldn't make me happier! And to think I started this fanfiction as a joke, but the feedback it received pushed me to go on and I have to thank you all if today we reached chapter 21! I admit it's amazing ;w;
> 
> I also discovered fear among some of you about this fanfiction going on hiatus or not being completed... I have this to say about it: This story won't end until I say so, so fear not! ^^ I might take a bit, but I promised to myself I was going to finish it and this is what I will do!  
> This work arrived to ch. 21 and I have to say that the end is actually pretty close, but let me share few things you might enjoy.  
> Some time ago I posted on my Tumblr a hint for a little project where you guys will take part in and here in few lines what I plan to do AFTER this fanfiction reaches the end:
> 
> FIRST PART  
> I'm going to write 3 more shorts about Lucien and William and the themes will be chosen by you in polls I'll post on my Tumblr
> 
> SECOND PART  
> I'm going to accept 3 requests (short stories about 1000 words) from you, the winners will be chosen randomly. The theme of a request can be almost any, about OCs, about TF2...SFW, NSFW... I'll make a post on my tumblr when the fanfiction is over with all details.
> 
> THIRD PART (if university doesn't squeeze me too much)  
> I'll draw 3 scenes from the fanfiction chosen in polls like the First part.
> 
> [Click here for my Tumblr account](http://2due-the-anteka.tumblr.com/)
> 
> The end :3  
> I hope you guys will join me in the project, but for now I can just thank you A TON for everything you did for me and wish you good reading!
> 
> \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ONE MORE THING!  
> I wanted to thank [I_Otaku](http://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Otaku/pseuds/I_Otaku) so freaking much for their gift! I really enjoyed it and I'd love if you guys go check it out, it deserves much love =w=
> 
> [Spirit Blue by I_Otaku ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4294830/chapters/9731208)
> 
> *big hug*


	22. Healing together

People say the morning after is cuddles, silly giggles and the nice feeling of success, so Lucien heard when he was a teenager, but in that moment he just felt sore and not wanting to move a muscle… He rested on his belly with his arm underneath the pillow and holding Willy’s arm under his other, having the man using his back as headrest.

_Sore, but happy for once._ He thought kissing Willy’s hand.

Lucien shifted a bit turning his head toward his companion’s side. He could hear him breathing deeply over his shoulder and really didn’t want to wake him up, it would have been hard even for him to escape unnoticed from his grip.

“Hmmm five more minutes, hon….”

_Of course he woke up…_ “Morning, Willy.”

Willy tightened his grip pulling him closer and snuggled behind Lucien’s shoulder. He groaned playfully and started kissing where he could reach making Lucien squeak in laughter for a couple of seconds before letting him go and sliding back to his side of the bed. “G’morning, Lu.” He smiled and blushed a bit as the pianist leaned in to kiss him. Theirs was a long yet simple and sweet kiss and made both of them smirk satisfied.

“Nice hair.”

“Look who’s talking, sunshine.” Willy teased brushing Lucien’s blonde messy hair with his fingers. The other laughed and shook his head puffing it instead.

“How do you feel?” Lucien asked catching his hand and gently kissing its knuckles.

 Willy flopped on his pillow with a smile, closed his eyes and gave him a happy chuckle. “Getting too old for these things. Ow!” He teased with a cry of pain as Lucien playfully slapped his chest. He laughed and his eyes moved away from his for a moment, looking a bit sad and nostalgic, then up to him with a total different look. His eyes were shining with pride and tranquillity. “So many things happened in the last days with you… In the last weeks I got to know you so well,” his hand moved to cup Lucien’s cheek and rubbed it with his thumb, gently. “To know you again, if you allow it, haha.”

Lucien smiled a bit embarrassed and kissed his palm. “I’ve been so fucking stupid.”

“Hmm,” he considered, moving his head slightly sideways from left and right and left again. “A bit more.”

He rolled his eyes. “A complete idiot, fool, cretin… Quit smiling like that, you’re enjoying this too much.” He pouted.

William snorted and leaned closer, making the points of noses touch. “Let me say this, after all I went through, after everything that… happened to me…” He sharply stopped closing his eyes for a moment.

“Darling. I’m here.” Lucien quickly reacted to not let him fall back into memories.

Willy looked back up at him pronto and gulped down his worries. “… I want you to know that I proudly consider you my stupid idiot, fool, cretin-“

“Ok, enough with that.” He sharply pushed him down and kissed him hard, so hard their teeth clicked together once, but they went on without a care. Lucien let himself get lost in those welcoming arms and more inviting lips that he totally forgot about the world around him and jolted as the alarm clock rang. With William’s hands still clinging to his neck and back, he stretched out to hit the snooze. He could feel how much Willy wanted him back, even if lightly, those hands were clearly pulling him back. He smoothly returned to him, chest on chest, lips against his cheek and arms tightly holding him.

Lucien kissed his forehead back. “Coffee?”

“Sounds good.” But his arms were still firmly gripping.

Lucien snorted. “Come on, I have to go to work.”

“Not letting you go until you give me what I want.”

“Please?”

Willy laughed and shook his head and Lucien could just smile, roll his eyes and give him one last quick kiss on the lips. He let him go. “See? Wasn’t that hard to guess.”

Lucien sat up. “You already seem a spoiled husband.” He grinned and got up in search of some underwear and pants heading to the shower, and William couldn’t avoid staring at the scratches on his companion’s back and blushing deeply.

-

Lucien set the cups of coffee on the table as Willy got out from the bathroom with a towel around his neck. He smirked as the man placed both his hands behind his back and arched forward, making bones pop. “Still all in one piece?”

“Hm, kinda, my back is not used to such activities anymore.” He sat down.

Lucien rolled his eyes smiling and passed him milk and sugar, then sat down as well. “I’ll give you a nice massage as I get back home.”

“Do I have to wait that long?” He sipped and pouted.

“I’m afraid so.” Yet, he scooted over with the chair and reached out to give him a nice gentle rub on the scarred back with a hand. He leaned close to his ear and whispered. “But I promise it’ll be the best you’ve ever had, darling.”

Willy leaned against him with eyes closed and biting his lower lip. “I was so hoping to hear that from you.”

“And maybe I’ll give you more.” He kissed his cheek and then his neck. “Now get dressed or you’ll catch a cold.”

“Yes, mama.” He said, blushing.

They quickly finished their coffee and Willy helped himself with croissants after getting a shirt on.

Lucien was standing in front of the mirror adjusting his tie when the lanky man appeared behind him offering half croissant, holding it with his teeth. He looked at him through the mirror. “Trying to bribe me to stay home?” He leaned sideways to bite a piece off as the other man offered an embarrassed/guilty face. He stole the croissant and turned around to face him directly. “Any plans for today?”

“I guess I’ll have to rearrange few things of mine and talk to Nik and Theo. They are probably burning to know what happened between us.”

“Ugh, they could care for their own business.”

“Said the spy.”

“Touché.” He grinned and had the last bite. He returned to the mirror and got his coat on, Willy was still behind him looking at him with his big sweet eyes. His presence had such a wonderful effect, he felt protected, he felt wanted as truly never before, his loneliness totally disappeared knowing he had arms waiting for him to embrace him to return to. Willy was staring at him with a confused look, but he didn’t have the chance to say a word since Lucien turned to face him. “Thank you.”

He blinked surprised. “For what?”

“For listening to me, for having given me an opportunity, for understanding… You’ve been so precious since the day you arrived here, but in the last days you’ve just been amazing. You helped me more than you’d imagine, I was miserably lonely… I really needed someone like you at my side. I’m been an enormous fool, but I’m glad for that slip the other day.” He smiled. “I still think I deserve that punch.” He giggled and looked down as his hands got caught in a tight grip.

“You deserved it just as much as this.” He quickly pulled him in and pressed his lips hard against his and held him tightly in his arms, wrinkling his coat. Lucien got frankly caught off-guard, but he didn’t take long to respond to his lover.

“Yeah… I earned that…” He moaned after the long kiss catching up for air. He panted for a bit and hugged him tightly to himself, but then he realized he was going to be late if he didn’t let go immediately. “Forgive me, dear, I really got to go!”

Papers and flute in the case, shoes on and hat as well, the music teacher was ready to go. He gave a last look around. “Ok, I’ll get the spare keys of the house, yours are in the door. Call my office if you need me, there’s the number in a book next the phone, and watch from Fantôme, she’ll probably already be cuddling all over your stuff.”

Willy looked at him smirking. “You got a rival then.”

Lucien scoffed. “Why do I even listen to you? Later, love, see you this afternoon.” And he was off.

The Aussie took a deep breath smiling and frowned as he felt something touching his leg. Looking down he found the furry lady meowing for his attention already. He picked her up and she purred and pawed at his face to play. “Come on, darlin’, show me your daddy’s secrets.”

“Meaw!”

-

The rest of the day for the saxophonist was calm, but busy. He first decided to go back to Nik’s flat, to have a talk and collect his things, hard task to do since Theo’s big dogs were all over him. Theodore and Nikolai listened to him with great interest and couldn’t help but laugh hearing the adventures of the date, and Nik even prepared for real a cup of popcorn to share while listening.

“Aw come on, am I some kind of show of yours now?” Willy protested and Nik answered with a loud crunch-muffled “ _Da._ ”.

They had lunch together and then the doctor had to reach his sister downtown, so he left followed by Maud and Galiana. It was his turn to wash the dishes, so he left before Nik remembered it, who of course ended washing them for him with Willy’s help.

“So, what are you going to do today?” Big Nik asked while drying his hands.

“I’ll see about that, I’ll try to not nose around too much, I don’t want to sound invasive. I’ll keep the cat some company and read something. You?”

“I have to go out in half an hour, I’ll get back home late with Theo. Maybe I’ll take him out, he always grumbles I never bring him anywhere.”

Willy snorted and put the last dish away. “Since when he doesn’t grumble?”

“Oh, he never ends.”

After some time, Willy had a little bag with his clothes ready and he looked up at Nik as they got out. “I’ll keep you updated on the events, please don’t throw my other stuff away.” He snorted.

Big Nik pulled him in a crushing bear hug and walked downstairs. “See you later, Little Man.”

Willy wheezed even after he got released and laughed seeing how affectionate the big guy always was, then he returned to Lucien’s flat. He simply put his bag in a corner of the bedroom and looked around pleased. Fantôme immediately wanted to jump into it and sleep on his clothes, but he interrupted her digging and she protested, and yet she soon purred as he scratched behind her ear. She jumped off and meowed at him as if wanting to show him something, so he followed. She led him to the shelves in the living room, next to the main door, and she scratched the side of it. The signs on that spot signed it was something she often did. He petted her head and looked at the shelves. They were full of many books, some were recipes books, others were about wild nature and wildlife in the deserts of America, some about rodeos and then stories and fictions about cowboys, romance novellas and musicians’ biographies. They were all neatly placed, for argument and in alphabetical order. Willy ran his fingers on their titles until he found one without it. It was a thick, tall one and, out of curiousity, he pulled it out. It was a photo album and it had a nice amount of them. Willy sat down and started to flip the pages while Fantôme flopped at his side, tightly sitting between his leg and the armchair, purring loudly and with her front paws stretched out and massaging his knee.

Lucien was almost in every photo, often with a big bright smile and next to a bunch of people. Among them Willy recognized Mama Rin and Margie, the others were a scruffy old man and another lady. They were often out for a drink and a party in the garden, laughing and making silly faces at the camera; some pics were taken in a ranch (the gate signed it was O’Hara’s), the old guy dressed as a cowboy riding a magnificent black stallion and Lucien next to them riding a splendid red coated blond mare. There was a funny set of sequential photos where Lucien was running after the mare because she stole his hat. Willy couldn’t hold a laugh and he had to think that Lucien looked damn good dressed as a cowboy. More photos showed him with the woman he didn’t recognize and soon he understood she had to be Lucien’s previous lover, the transgender man. They looked so happy in each picture and he couldn’t imagine how they broke up from seeing those, but he remembered that little Lucien told him time ago about that relationship. He sighed not wanting to know how much Lucien might have suffered from it and flipped more pages. There were concerts with Lucien playing the piano and Margie sensually sitting on it and singing, some drinking game afterward and pics about who was the drunkest.

Willy stood up to set the album back into place and he gingerly grabbed some recipe book. He couldn’t sit down anymore anyway, Fantôme took the whole seat for herself. 

-

Lucien got home around 6pm and he looked quite tired. He had to deal with Miss Moore once again and he grimaced thinking back at the woman. This time he clearly stated he wasn’t going out with her, hoping she’d just stop bothering him. She had taken Malcom home without a word.

He climbed the stairs and got to his door, he found it unlocked and as he stepped in he got greeted by an inviting smell, which made his mouth water. He could see bags on the table, jars aside and fresh vegetables too, right next to a pile of recipe books. Walking toward the corner of the kitchen, he saw Willy peeling potatoes and reading from another book he hung with clothespins over the hob. Fantôme was sitting on the counter next to him, away from any danger, and she meowed and jumped down as she noticed Lucien. She started cuddling like crazy against his shins, purring and meowing louder for his attention, but he was focused on Willy.

“Oh hi, welcome back.” Willy said before the other man could even think what to say.

Lucien walked up next to him. “H-Hi. What’s all this?” He spread his arms looking at the groceries, at the roast, at the chicken wings, at the many kinds of sauces Willy prepared…

Willy grinned big time. “Just wanted to try some particular dish you bookmarked.” He leaned down and purred in Lucien’s ear. “I saw someone loves ranch lifestyle.”

Lucien slightly blushed at the velvet-delicate inviting tone that brushed his ear. “Y-Yes. What about it?”

He suddenly froze, not expecting any question. “Ehm… would you like to…come to live in one with me? It’s just an idea, you know…” It was his turn to blush.

“I’d love to.” He quickly answered without thinking it twice and grinned at him, loving the prospective of their future together. “You nosey man.” They both chuckled and leaned in, but a fluttery noise made them both turn sharply. Fantôme was digging in one of the bags and when she lifted her head, she had a big chicken leg in her mouth.

“OHI, THAT’S FOR TOMORROW!” Willy yelled at her as he chased her around the the house followed by Lucien, who was laughing hard and using the bag of her food as bait.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 
> 
> **In loving memory of Loki "Nerino"**  
>  Febraury 2015 - May 26th 2016  
>    
>  I want to dedicate this chapter to my dearest cat who unfortunately got an awful accident and my family had to sign for putting an end to his suffering.  
>  He was a curious, happy and cuddly black cat, with a lot of energy and a big heart. He joined my family last October when he simply went over the fence escaping from his neglecting previous owner and he got in my house as a tornado. The guy is a friend of my mom's companion and he simply shrugged said we had the kitten. He even had a broken knee and we took good care of him. Despite the knee he really was a turbo runner and we all were shocked to see he just ran around like crazy without a care. Once he healed up he had a funny way of sitting, with his leg often stretched out in awkward poses. He was such a trouble maker... we have a precious lamp which survived for 15 years to MANY cats and relocations and in 3 weeks the little black pest managed to knock it over and break a part of it! Now it stands with the broken part toward the wall lol  
>  I never loved a cat so much in such a short time, he used to climb on my tummy and cuddle under my chin with great fervor and he grumbled way too often at nothing. He was also the only one among my cats to play peekaboo meowing, protesting on the spot and charging when I wasn't looking. He had just started to bite ankles for attention too haha and to use basket for sleeping, while he used always my chair and my couch.  
>  That's how I want to remember him, happy, energetic and cuddly so I made Fantôme mirror his exact moves he used to do with me.  
>  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Hi everybody,  
>  and so we reach the end of the fanfiction, it's been a long long amazing ride.... BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Ahaha actually I will add 2-3 epilogues to wrap it all nice and pretty, and afterward I'll go back to my other fanfiction, and then... I won't spoil my future plans just yet =w=  
>  I really hope you enjoyed it so far and once again, guys, thank you so much. Here the refs for the [stallion](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/70/5e/34/705e3410acc986742b1c54c1134d8a09.jpg) and the [mare](http://www.freewebs.com/haflingerbeauties/penny%202006%20foal.bmp).  
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________  
>    
> 
> 
> **UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2016  
>  ** Hello everyone, I wanted to say that I'm not dead and I'm very sorry for this huge delay with the epilogues of the fanfiction, many things got in the way and at the moment I really need to focus on my university exams so I can get hell out of it x3 I'll try for Christmas to write something down, I'll write updates on my tumblr account! Thanks again once more for all your words and forgive meeeeeee RIP ME See you soon! 


	23. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay happy late birthday to me! :D  
> Ok, I really tried to post it on Nov 21... man... :c

****

**_FIVE YEARS LATER_ **

 

  “Give me that crate, please.” Said Lucien from the top of the ladder as he examined apples on the tree. “These too are good to go.”

Willy was at the bottom piling full crates and passed him the empty one. “Leave a couple for Sunshine.” He chuckled as Lucien rolled his eyes again at that reminder.

Once collected a nice number of apples, he gave everything to Willy and smoothly slid down to the ground. “Let’s go to check on her,” he picked a single apple, “she deserves a bit of spoiling.” He grinned and allowed Willy to put his arm over his shoulders.

“You do as well.” And he kissed his temple making him snort half-annoyed.

They headed to the stable, on the East side of the old ranch, where they got immediately welcomed by the huge marvellous black stallion and his two sons. “No, boys, this is for the lady.” William scolded them as they tried to get close to Lucien. “You already had your snacks!” The stallion replied with a playful loud puff from his nostrils.

Lucien headed to the last booth where the mare was kept, but as he got there he noticed she wasn’t there. He didn’t even need to ask and he simply headed outside from the back. He found her rolling in the grass under the big old willow and whistled after her. “You are always fooling around, lady.” She immediately got on her hooves and trotted happily to him to sniff him up and steal his hat as good old times. “No! Stop it or no treat.” She seemed to whine, but she accepted the apple with glee trading it for the hat. “Always a pest, aren’t you?” He patted her neck and moved to her side patting her tummy. “Let’s hope this one won’t be as crazy as you.” She snorted and shook her mane. She was going to have her third foal soon and the ranchers really hoped for a little girl this time. Sunshine and Big Mac were the old couple of the ranch and Coffee Bean and Lazy Eye were their sons. Coffee Bean has been the only foal to have met the old owner of the ranch, Mr. O’Hara, before the old man passed away leaving everything to Lucien instead of his two sons and one daughter.

Old O’Hara unfortunately never truly had a good relationship with them, they had total opposite interests, but he considered Lucien as his son and gave him the full package for the safety of his horses. Lucien had spent few years in the ranch with him before moving to the city and becoming a music teacher, but always remained in good contacts with the old man and landed always a hand when needed, and as last request he accepted the property, the fruit trees and the few animals, taking great care and doing in all his power to not let the young O’Haras set a finger on it. Of course, it all ended in legal fights and lawyers meeting 2-3 times a month since the old man died, but Lucien was untouchable.

The blonde cowboy ruffled her mane and let her be, joining Willy at the gate. “She’s more than fine. As usual.”

“As usual.” Willy chuckled and opened the gate for him, and they headed to the house.

The house was a classic big two-story cottage in the middle of the property, isolated from civility by dry grasslands, but still not too far from the old city where Lucien used to live. It was peaceful and offered an amazing view on the far mountain tops at South.

“Let’s shower, rest, dinner and let’s go.” Willy offered.

“Yep, you stink bad.” Lucien grinned.

“I stink?! Darlin’, have you seen yourself?” He laughed and gently slapped Lucien’s butt as he got indoors first.

“Never as good as you have.” He put his hat down on the sofa and Fantôme immediately jumped next to it and cuddled against it, meowing for attention. “Lady, could you not?” He groaned as he saw her fur getting stuck on the fabric of the hat and he shooed her, patted her side –immediately followed by a protesting meow- and went for the bathroom. Willy ruffled her fluffy head getting a loud purr back and followed the blondie.

They ended dropping all their clothes in the laundry machine and walked into the shower.

“You have mud even behind your ears…” Lucien started scrubbing him with a huge amount of soap, making a mess of bubbles all over the tall guy. He was energetic, but at the same time he was pretty delicate, especially over the big scar Willy had on his back. It hurt to him to see it everytime he placed his eyes on him, but with time he got to learn to ignore it and go on with his tasks.

Willy puffed under the water stream as Lucien started removing the soap with the shower sprayer. He had his long hair in front of his eyes and he really looked like a wet puppy. “Hehe, stop, I can’t see a thing.”

“Stop whining, cousin Itt, you have soap everywhere.” Lucien grinned as he splashed him again over the head. Once cleaned he put the sprayer back into his holder and looked up at Willy, who opened the curtain of hair and looked down at him. They shared a warm smile, full of adoration and affection, their eyes locking and sharing even more. “You look so goofy when you’re soaked.” He chuckled.

“Said the wet chick.” Willy chuckled as well as he brushed Lucien’s golden locks back.

They both laughed warmly, kissed and hugged, gently embracing each other.

“Just one day left, uh?” Lucien grinned against the taller man’s shoulder.

“Still can’t believe it’s been already 5 years since our first date, you know?”

“Time goes by fast. As always.” He rubbed Willy’s sides and looked up at him again. “Come on, our guests are waiting for us.”

 

Lucien opened the main double door to his well-known costumers with great grace and with his usual warm welcoming bow. Elegant ladies thanked him dearly, asking him how he was that night, and flamboyant gentlemen saluted him with cheeky grins. Everyone there personally knew Lucien and Willy, all trusted people to join their private club downtown to listen to their wonderful music and assist to special events. They weren’t many, about 40 people only, but Lucien knew everything about every single one of them.

Margie and Mama Rin got in together, side by side, and they immediately spotted Lucien in the crowd.

“Lucien, dear!” Margie called raising his arm.

Lucien immediately trotted to them, welcoming them with a warm hug. “So glad to see you finally made it! Come, I have reserved the best table for just the two of you.”

“It’s the least you can do for us, right Margie?”  Mama Rin teased Lucien with her fluffy boa.

“Absolutely! Ladies like us deserve the best in the house!” He chuckled fixing his dress around his fake breast.

Lucien rolled his eyes with a smile and accompanied the ladies to a raised table, the one with the best view on the stage. “If you want a drink, just call for Hogart at the bar, he’ll help you with everything.”

In the meantime, Willy appeared on the stage to just reach the band on the side and give them the papers they needed, and he got immediately welcomed with an unexpected applause. He snorted and reached for the standing microphone. “Good evening, good evening! Thanks again for joining us tonight for the show! Now please forgive me, but I need to get the papers to the guys or the show will never start.”

 _BADUM-TSSS_ went the drummer, raising a soft chuckle from the crowd.

Willy gave them the records, bowed and hopped down the stage, going to sit at his and Lucien’s private table.

Lucien has gone in the backstage to check for the singers, their costumes, their look and their memory, hoping they would remember all the lyrics. Of course, they never forgot, but Lucien was one to double check. He wished them good luck and to have fun before joining Willy, and the light darkened.

 

Their club was mostly for blues, jazz and swing, but once a week they kept special events with special guests. The band was formed by 5 members, 2 used to be Lucien’s students while the others won the audition at the opening 4 years earlier, same for the 2 ladies and the two young men who took the roles of singers. A thing Lucien and Willy were proud of was their friendship, everyone there respected one another and was in very good relationship, giving the mood of the whole show like a private intimate thing.

 

Later, as every single one left, even the 2 guards, Lucien was closing the gates and returning to the car where Willy waited for him on the passenger seat. It was few minutes past midnight and both of them still felt the bumping rhythm in their ears.

“Tonight was marvellous, the new costumes were splendid on Milena and Sylvia, they were radiant!” James was bouncing on his seat, still very excited about the result of the night.

“We should get more of that kind, then. Tomorrow I’ll call the tailor again.” Lucien smiled and started the car. They shared a proud smile and drove home.

As they set foot inside the phone rang.

“I get it.” Lucien headed to it without much rushing and picked it up. “Hello? Oh hi, Jean.” Willy raised an eyebrow at him while sitting on the couch with the cat flopping next to his leg. Lucien listened carefully to what the friend was telling him, sometime nodding and giving short positive answers. He looked surprised, yet he was frowning. “Tomorrow at 10pm? I don’t see any trouble.” He looked at Willy searching for a confirmation, which he got. “Ok…Fine, fine, it’ll be interesting.” He took note on the nearby block notes to get extra food and then grinned as Jean stopped talking. “And what about what you owe us? Are you going to sing for us or not?” He soon snorted as Jean quickly said bye and closed the call.

“What’s going on?” Willy chuckled scooting over to let him sit next to him.

“So… Jean-Claude dodged the bullet once again.”

“Oh, classic Jean.” He put an arm over Lucien’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “He’s never going to sing for us, you know it.”

“He and L.J. are coming over fashionably uninvited as always and they want us to meet someone new.” Willy frowned. “They said they met them through _our freaky lady_ , might be interesting to come to know these 2 ex-colleagues of ours.”

“Colleagues? Were they working for Mann.co?”

“A spy and a sniper, nonetheless.”

Willy sighed, but smiled. “Might be interesting.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE!  
> Took me quiiiiiite a while, but as promised here it is the first epilogue! Things for me have been going pretty tight with university, but doing ok x3
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter, I know it's sounds a bit different from teh rest of the fanfic, but with time I worked around Lucien and Willy a lot in my rps and it's not easy to keep the view on them as I used to have when I wrote the story. I also wanted to have this chapter as a new introduction to what I might write in the future! Just because a fanfic is completed, doesn't mean the story won't go on x3  
> Would you like to read more about them? Please, let me know!
> 
> Yes, Jean-Claude and Lawrence James from my other fanfiction "The truth in your eyes" are very god friends with Lucien and Willy, and they've known each other for years! I wanted to include that so much, hoping to give more love to those two because in the last months I've been rping about them A LOT, whenever I could, and they changed and developed a ton since they appeared in my life, I admit I adore them and I'd love to share about them here too!
> 
> I also wanted to make a little homage in the end, those two new characters hinted are actually my dear friend Lade [(click here for her tumblr)](http://anoown.tumblr.com/), her Spy and her Sniper. In our rps we had a lot of fun making our chars meet and today they are all really good friends as well. We might as well work together on something in the future.
> 
> And one last thing... yes, that freaky lady Lucien mentioned is me <3
> 
> Thank you everyone once again for all your love and affection, I will catch you again soon!  
> Have all a great day,  
> 2Due


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